Book 2: Lightning
by SW4G M4N
Summary: "If he or she who holds power cannot protect those she is entrusted with, then it is my job to make sure that power is no longer abused. I will give her one chance to prove herself. I, along with my few allies, will bring this city to its knees. I will burn the capital of the United Republic of Nations to the ground to test the will and merit of their hero." Trials of the Avatar
1. Prologue: Baptism by Fire

**A/N: This story is a cool idea I had for Book 2 of Legend of Korra. Now, I know the new season is coming out and all, but this story is coming off of the first season. I don't know if this will be a good one (Hopefully you all like it), but here it goes! Please leave reviews as I right this, your input will really help my writing progress, and possibly affect the story. But enough rambling, without further ado:**

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**Book 2: Lighting**

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**Prologue: Baptism by Fire**

They call her a hero. Cacophonies of cheers ring through the streets as they shower her with love and adoration. They hold her high and sing praise, songs of the 'True hero of Republic city'. "She was chosen by the spirits," they chant, dancing in circles like drunken fools, "she was chosen by the spirits to save us all!"

And like the self-absorbed idol she is, their 'hero' waves back, basking in the glory thrown upon her by her fellow man. "You have nothing to fear!" she reassures them with a sickening smile, "The monster is no more!" The crowd roars in excitement once again as they toss gifts to her, begging her just to glance their way.

Hero. Pssh. I spit at the mere notion. She is no hero. I have witnessed the actions of a true hero, and she is not one. Sure, she defeated the terrorist, exposed the masked extremist to the world. But does this make her a hero? Absolutely not.

People are so quick to forget those who died in the siege on Republic City, the hundreds of thousands of innocents who were caught in the crossfire. All of them, dead, because the one they depended on most was too busy fooling around while the Equalists grew like a cancer, overlooking it until the tumor of hate and anger was too large to ignore.

Her failure cannot go unpunished. Her blatant disregard for her duty cannot be overlooked. She holds a position of power that she cannot comprehend, nor can she control. While she rests on her laurels, people suffer and die.

I intend to change that. It is my duty to pass judgment on those who hold the power, to watch them and assure that they fulfill their own responsibilities. If he or she who holds power cannot do so, then it is my job to make sure that power is no longer abused.

I will give her one chance to prove herself, just one. I, along with my few allies, will bring this city to its knees. I will burn the capital of the United Republic of Nations to the ground to test the will and merit of their 'hero'. She thinks herself untouchable, but she will soon learn that _no one_ is untouchable. And in the end, if she cannot rise to the challenge, I will kill her and begin the cycle anew. And in the ashes of her failure will a new true hero will rise. For if she is not able to protect her people, then someone else will...


	2. Chapter 1: Election Day

**Chapter One: Election Day**

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It was a scorching hot summers day in Republic City. The sun was blinding, the air was humid, and there was not a single cloud in the sky to take refuge under. The weather added on with the heat produced by the multiple factories scattered around the concrete jungle made living in the city almost intolerable, let alone working. Many workers had been forced to go home due to unsafe conditions in the hot boiler rooms they made their living in.

It was surprising that spirits on the streets were generally high, despite the ungodly heat. But the city had just finished rebuilding after its damaging attack five months ago from the extremist group, the Equalists, and people were glad to see things go back to normal.

The council had also allowed Hiroshi Sato, a major player in Amon's revolution, to be simply placed under house arrest with his daughter, causing those who may have still held a grudge against benders to be put at ease. It seemed as if people were finally getting over the masked blood bender's assault.

All that remained was the election of a new water bender to replace Tarrlok in the United Republic Council...

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"I don't see why we have to go to these things," Bolin pouted as he followed his brother into city hall, "We're just pro benders, shouldn't we leave these meetings to, you know, politicians."

Mako sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, "I've told you this a thousand times, Bo, we're here to support Korra while she helps the council choose a new member."

For the past five days, Korra had been roped into countless council meetings with Tenzin. Of course, Bolin knew she hated going to the things, but it was her responsibility as the Avatar to help oversee the proceeds. But Korra not being around was something he was used to at that point. Ever since she and his brother had started dating, much to his disappointment, the two always spent time alone with each other, leaving him and Pabu on their own.

At first, Bolin was upset with how much the two had been ditching him, but eventually he found his own hobby to keep himself pre-occupied: street performance. Bolin found that he and Pabu could make a decent amount of money doing silly acts and tricks on the side of the road. One time, he was even able to afford eating at his favorite water tribe restaurants for three days in a row! It wasn't as fun as hanging out with Korra and his brother was, but it was something.

"Now Bolin," Mako snapped sternly, de railing his brother's train of thought, "You have to remember to keep quiet during these things. The council members a pretty strict and…"

Bolin rolled his eyes and pouted, "Yeah, yeah, they already don't approve of you and Korra, and me acting out's just gonna make it worse. Geez, bro, if you want, I can just wait outside! There are a bunch of people out there, and I bet Pabu and I can make some real money!"

Mako bit his lip, considering Bolin's suggestion. After a couple of seconds, he nodded and said, "Alright, Bo, go ahead. Just remember to hide the money so you don't get mugged."

Bolin took a deep breath and puffed out his chest, striking his best strong guy pose, "Me? Get mugged? Please."

His brother chuckled lightly and patted him on the back, "Alright, have fun Bo. You to Pabu."

The fire ferret cocked its head to the side and purred happily at Mako. Bolin sighed with relief, another boring council meeting dodged. With his ferret perched on his shoulder, the earth bender ran of into the crowd excitedly.

Mako smiled as he watched his brother peel off, and then pushed open the large golden doors of City hall. He had never imagined his life would ever come to this, seeing where he and his brother had come from. The two were dirt-poor orphans, destined to die on the streets like the rest. But somehow, they had managed to become pro bending champions, important members of Republic City, and most importantly, friends with the avatar.

The red carpet leading to the high court and the silver linings of the decorative hall were almost like a dream to him. _Things are finally turning around for you, Mako_, he told himself as he strutted towards the courtroom.

Standing in front of the court entrance was a brown haired girl in traditional water tribe garb, her arms crossed and her foot tapping impatiently. As soon as she saw Mako, though, her smile lit up and she ran towards him. Mako smiled and threw himself into her embrace, holding the girl tightly. After they finished hugging, the girl looked around and asked, "Where's Bolin."

Mako shrugged, "He said he didn't want to watch, so he's out on the streets doing his own thing. Sorry, Korra."

Korra frowned at this, "So he's ditching us to go play with his ferret? This is the future of our nation we're talking about here!"

"You know how Bo can be," Mako told her, "He's not really one for politics. He'd much rather be out there having fun in his own goofy way."

The avatar sighed in disappointment, "I guess you're right. It's just that I haven't talked to him in a while now."

"I'm sure he'll be waiting outside for us after the meeting," Mako reassured her, giving his girlfriend a peck on the cheek. Korra still seemed to be upset with Bolin's absence, though. Mako frowned a bit, why was she so down? It was just Bolin, at least he had come. She would see his brother in practice, anyways, so it wasn't like his absence was a huge deal.

Korra, on the other hand, was becoming more and more disheartened about her friendship with the earth bender. The two used to be so close, but now it seemed as if he was avoiding her and Mako, distancing himself from the two. Even in bending practice, he wouldn't talk nearly as much as he used to. He would mostly do drills with the two, and then head out early before she could say a word to him. But whenever the two did talk, he would always act as if nothing was wrong, and everything was normal. Each time she asked why he leaves so early, Bolin would simply answer, "I've got another job, Korra. You know, you've got pro bending and avatar stuff, and I've got pro bending and street performing. It's really no big deal. Besides, you and Mako are hanging out, anyways, right? Think of it as… Makorra time!"

She had never heard dumber thing to call her relationship with his brother, but she still thought it was just Bolin's brand of humor. And while she did appreciate her time with Mako, she still wanted to have the occasional night out with Bolin. Mako was so serious all the time, it was fun to hang out with his goofy brother every once and a while. Plus, she didn't really have any other friends other than Asami, assuming she even liked Korra, who was always busy with running her dad's business.

"Avatar Korra, the meeting is about to begin," she heard Tenzin call from inside the courtroom. Korra took a deep breath, preparing herself for yet another boring council meeting, thankfully the last. She and Mako went into the courtroom and took their designated seats in front of the U shaped table, where each council member was sitting.

Korra noticed that there was someone who usually wasn't present at these meetings, Asami. Apparently she had decided to attend the official election meeting, most likely since she represented the money of Republic City.

Councilman Tenzin stood once everyone had filed into the room and began his opening statement.

"Welcome, everyone," He greeted, giving a polite bow to the crowd of aristocrats and politicians, "to the official election and induction of the newest member of our council. In this meeting, we will be choosing from the group of nominated candidates a new Water Tribe representative. Keep in mind the characteristics that make one a worthy member of our council and who will be the most beneficial to the people of Republic City, and the entire nation. Now, without further ado, I present your candidates!"

Three sharply dressed water tribe men entered the room, smiling and waving to the deciders. Each of them went around shaking the hand of each member of the council. After making their rounds, the three men stood next to each other in a neat row. Tenzin stepped forward and began to introduce them. Pointing to the first man, who had a full beard, a mostly shaven head, and a confident smile. He shouted, "Tikanni Kesuk!"

He then pointed to the one standing in the middle, who was much older than the other two, and seemed much more sullen. "Injaquaq Iluq!"

Tenzin then pointed to the man on the far end of the three, whose face had multiple visible scars streaking across it. It was obvious to everyone that the man was a veteran. "Nanuq Qupok!"

The airbending council member turned to the crowd of voters and said, "Please decide carefully who you wish to vote for. You have ten minutes to make any last minute discussions among yourselves."

Everyone immediately stood from their seats and began to shift around, trying to locate their respective groups to discuss why their candidate was the most qualified.

Korra felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Asami standing behind her. She seemed happy to see the teenage billionaire, but not so much the said billionaire's ex boyfriend.

"What are you doing here, Asami?" Mako asked suspiciously

Asami shot him a glare, "What, am I not allowed to perform my civic duty? Since I'm now one of the most influential people in this city, I figured it'd be a good time to brush up on politics."

"Why weren't you at any of the other meetings then?"

Asami became flustered; clenching her fists angrily, "Running dad's business is a lot of hard work! Anyways, I figured Korra could fill me in on each of the candidates."

"She's not some errand girl you can send to important meetings in your stead!" Mako snapped, pointing accusingly at Asami.

Korra sighed; it had been heated between the two ever since Asami convinced the council to have her father put under her own custody. Mako saw freeing her father, who had put Korra's life in danger, as a betrayal of trust. When he had finally confronted her about it, he had said to her "Just because you're still angry with me, doesn't make it alright to free terrorists!" Asami, of course, was not happy with Mako calling her father a terrorist, and the two had been fighting ever since.

Finally deciding enough was enough, Korra stepped in between the two and agreed to inform Asami about each of the candidates. Asami smiled at her response, while Mako frowned disapprovingly.

"Alright, so let's start out with Tikanni," Korra began as Asami listened carefully, "He's a self made man. Tikanni built upon his father's small fishing company and has turned it into a full-fledged industry. He can be a bit brash and naïve, but he knows what it's like to have practically nothing and is most likely going to end up trying to help the lower class."

"Self made man… I like that," Asami commented, looking over to the proud ex fisherman.

Korra nodded in agreement, Tikanni was her favorite as well. "Next is the old guy, Injaquaq Iluq. He's an old aristocrat, and to be honest a bit of infuriating sometimes. The old man is interested in creating more riches for the city, but intends to stream most of it towards the upper class."

"Bet you'd like that," Mako scoffed quietly, earning him a glare from Asami.

"So what about the big scary guy?" Asami asked, pointing towards Nanuq Qupok.

Korra looked over at Nanuq and whispered to Asami, "I don't know much about him. Apparently he's some celebrated general, but he rarely ever talks. But he's got most everyone's respect, for some reason or another."

"Is he a good leader?"

Korra shrugged, "I guess so, seeing as he's a general and all. I asked Iroh about him, and all he could tell me was that Nanuq's really good at making tough decisions. Didn't say much else."

Asami looked over to Nanuq again, who was standing by silently, not talking to any of his supporters unlike the other two candidates. He had a certain aura about him, though, one that commanded respect. For some strange reason, she felt as if she could trust him with such a position.

After ten minutes was up, a gong sounded and everyone took his or her seats once again. The three candidates returned to their original spots as well. Tenzin stepped forward and spoke in a loud voice, "We are now going to perform the vote. Each of you has three flags under your seats, one red, one blue, and one green. If you wish Tikanni to be your next council member, raise the red flag. If you wish Injaquaq to be your next council member, raise the blue flag. If you wish Nanuq to be your next council member, raise the green flag. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded simultaneously. "Alright then," Tenzin said, "Will you all now raise your respective flag."

Unfortunately for Mako, since he wasn't an actual member of the court, he was not allowed to vote. But Korra allowed him to put his input on her vote. Both agreed that Tikanni would be best for the overwhelming poverty that Republic City suffered from. Asami, on the other hand, raised a green flag. She figured an ex general would know a thing or two about strong leadership, and that was what the city needed most of all. And it seemed as if most felt the same way, because there was an overwhelming amount of green flags.

After two counters went through the crowd and tallied up the votes, they whispered the results into Tenzin's ear. Tenzin simply nodded and thanked them silently. He then held his hands up, signaling for everyone to lower their flags. "The results are in," he announced so that everyone could hear, "Your new council member will be… NANUQ QUPOK!"

Those who voted for the ex general stood up and cheered happily, while the others sulked in their seats. Tenzin smiled widely, another successful vote. He walked over to Nanuq and put his arm around the large man's shoulder in a brotherly gesture. "Is there anything you would like to say fellow councilman?"

Everyone went silent, waiting in anticipation for Nanuq to speak up. After a couple seconds of silence, he finally opened his mouth to speak. "This city is sick." The general then exited the courtroom, not even bothering to explain his statement. Most seemed surprised with what he said, especially Korra. She glared at the newly inducted councilman as he walked off. When he had finally left the room, she growled, "That jerk! The people of Republic City elect him, and all he can tell us is that our city is sick?"

Mako seemed equally upset by the ex general's opinion, "I don't know who he thinks he is, but you saved this city! If anything, Republic City's doing better than ever! Sure, we still have our problems, but nothing out of the ordinary."

"I'm gonna go give him a piece of my mind!" Korra said, balling her fists as she began to follow him. Before she could get far, though, Tenzin grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Let him be," he told her sternly, "Nanuq may have come across ungrateful, but I truly believe he is what this city needs."

"What this city needs is the avatar, and Korra's right here!" Mako exclaimed, pointing at his girlfriend

Tenzin shook his head, "What the city needs is someone who is able to lead them selflessly and wisely so that someone like Amon cannot harm this city again."

"But Korra defeated Amon!"

Tenzin nodded, "An for that, we are all proud. But we let his movement grow for far too long. What we should have done was stop it before it could gain steam and grow out of control like it did. As glad as I am that Amon was stopped, there were a million ways we could have done it better."

Korra huffed angrily at this. _I did the best I could_, she thought, _why can't we all just leave it at that!_ "I'm sorry I'm not good enough for Republic City," she snapped, and stormed off. Mako began to follow her, but Tenzin quickly stopped him.

"What are you doing? I need to talk to her!" he shouted angrily

"This is something she needs to figure out on her own," Tenzin responded

Mako sighed and submitted to the old air bender's will. The two watched as Avatar Korra stomped out of city hall.


	3. Chapter 2: The First Lesson

**A/N: Here's the second chapter of my story, I hope you all enjoy! Remember to please leave reviews, it really helps me know what direction I should take the story in. I forgot to mention that the cover for this story is up on my deviant art page (my username is SW4G M4N as well). Anyways, enough talking, here's chapter two! (Just a warning, this story will be a bit more graphic then the TV show, hence the T rating)**

** BolinLover: I'm glad you like it. And I'm having Mako and Asami fight because of who her father is. I also feel like the tension after their break up was something that the first season failed to develop.**

** : It's a pretty good series, but the main reason I'm making this is because there were some concepts in the first season that I felt were not handled properly, or not expanded upon well. I still suggest it, though!**

** Krikanalo: Your profile pic is literally the best thing ever.**

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**Chapter 2: The First Lesson**

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A man and a woman sat across from each other in a dingy, dark, and sketchy room. The only reason the two could see each other's faces was a single small, rectangular window near one of the top corners of the room.

The woman was naturally beautiful, with piercing blue eyes, gorgeous blonde hair, and a near perfect figure. She wore expensive clothing; a short cut jet-black kimono and knee high stiletto boots. In her hand was a small dagger, which she twirled between her fingers playfully. She had several gold rings on her finger, each with strange and ancient symbols carved into it. Her lips were ruby red, and her skin was slightly pale, but not unhealthy looking. Her hair was tied up in a bun, with two hair sticks running through it. She was the epitome of elegance and danger.

The man across from her wore a crimson and black hood over his head and a mask that covered most of his face. The mask looked like the front of a human skull, with strange black markings around the eyeholes. He wore a light armored robe, consisting of a sturdy chest plate made of several overlapping metal guards, black cloth, a single shoulder guard on his right side, and a red sash attached to a belt around his waste. On his left hand, he wore an unusually large malicious looking gauntlet, which glowed slightly red as if lava were coursing between its segments. He wore a pair of light, but sturdy greaves, and cloth leggings.

His garb covered his whole body, leaving only one natural feature visible, his eyes. The man's eyes were as intimidating as they were un-natural. The whites of his eyes were not white; rather pitch black and his irises were blood red. His eyes made him look more like a demon than an actual human being.

On the table in front of them, blueprints of different structures in Republic City were strewn out. Drawn on them were all sorts of red x's and arrows, marking every point of entry and other important features of each building. The woman smiled as she looked at the papers scattered out before her.

"Looks like all that work finally paid off," she looked back up to the man across from her. "You've been busy."

The man smiled under his mask and leaned back in his chair, propping his feet up on the table. "I like to do my homework, kitten. Don't feel bad; I'm sure you've got it all memorized in that big head of yours."

The woman furrowed her brow in annoyance and snapped, "I told you not to call me kitten."

"Calm down, Maya, I'm just playin' with you," the man laughed, causing the woman to frown even more.

Maya grumbled some obscenities under her breath, and then said, "For a man with such conviction, you are surprisingly relaxed."

"You misjudge me kitten, I'm taking this very seriously. I've gone to hell and back to confront this so called savior, and I'm more then ready to show her what a true threat is."

"That man, Amon, killed hundreds in his attack on Republic City. I would consider him threatening," Maya commented, becoming increasingly annoyed with the man before her.

The masked man shook his head. "No, Amon shouldn't have been a threat. He was a charismatic mad man who was practically handed a microphone and given an audience. If it weren't for the avatar's incompetence, he wouldn't have ever seen the light of day."

"If Amon was a charismatic madman, what does that make us?"

"Teachers," the man answered curtly

The woman's frown was replaced by a look of indifference, as if she was processing what the strange man had told her. After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke up. "So what next?"

The man suddenly pulled a knife out from his belt and slammed it down on the table, lodging the tip of the blade into the cheap wood. "Now comes the fun part," he announced in a crazed voice, looking Maya right in the eyes. She didn't seem the least bit intimidated by his sudden outburst. Maya actually seemed somewhat amused by his demeanor.

"I will contact the others and tell them that it's time," she told him, standing from her seat with a couple of the blueprints in hand.

The man leaned back again and waved her off, "Go then, tell them only what they need to know. The rest stays between us. Make sure they are ready, because everything starts tonight." Maya nodded and left the room, locking the door behind her.

Once he was sure Maya had left the room, the masked man pulled out a photo of a young water tribe woman next to a large polar bear dog. Just the sight of her smiling face caused him to seethe with anger. The man suddenly began to chuckle, despite his anger. "Lesson number one, avatar. Those who aren't vigilant are often caught off guard."

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"What have I done wrong?" Korra muttered as she stormed through the Republic City park, "I stopped Amon, didn't I? The bad guy's gone, so I don't see why people are still upset with me!"

Nanuq's words were still bouncing around her head. "This city is sick." _What does he know? He hasn't even been living here up until now! Who is he to judge me!_ Korra huffed angrily. She needed to blow off some steam.

Normally Korra would head to the Pro Bending Arena and work her ass off in the training room, but the whole place was closed at the moment since the next season didn't start for a couple months. The air temple was off limits too, since she didn't really want to be around Tenzin at the moment. Korra felt frustrated, all this pent up anger and nothing to do with it.

"I guess I'll just find something non-bending to do," she told herself

Korra looked around to see what everyone else was doing. She saw a couple kids flying kites, but unfortunately, the avatar was too broke to invest in one. _You think I'd get some sort of pay for being the most powerful bender in the world_, Korra thought to herself as she moved on. It seemed like the only people in the park at the moment were kids and street performers.

The young avatar decided to check out some of the performances, in hopes that one would catch her interest. There were all sorts of people doing crazy things. One man called himself the human boulder, and would use earth bending to create all sorts of stone sculptures around him. First he was a flying bison, then he was a Shirshu, and then he was a Badgermole. It was pretty cool act, but when she asked him to become a polar bear dog, and the performer had no idea what one even looked like, she couldn't stick around.

Korra passed by fire-eaters, water sculptors, and all sorts of mimes, but none seemed to grab her attention. Just as she was about to give up, Korra heard a familiar purr come from her left. She spun around and saw none other then Bolin cheering Pabu on as the little fire ferret walked slowly across a tiny tightrope.

"Bolin?"

The earth bender up from his ferret and saw Korra looking down at him. He smiled friendlily at her and waved. "Hey Korra, what's up?"

She put her hands on her hips and looked at him crossly. "Where were you? You missed the whole election!"

"Oh," he bowed his head guiltily, "Sorry Korra, I was out here with Pabu making a little pocket change." Korra deepened her glare, bringing her face right up next to Bolin's. Bolin chuckled nervously, "L-look, you and Mako seemed to have things under control, so I decided to do my own thing… Think of it as more couple time!"

Korra sighed and backed down, causing Bolin to let out a breath of relief. She was still cross with him for ditching them, though. "So, how are you going to make it up to me?"

"Er, what?"

Korra nodded with a sly smile on her face, "You heard me? You've been dodging me for a while now, but it's about time we hung out again. And after that meeting, I'm in the mood for some noodles."

Bolin looked at Korra as if she had lost her mind. "You… want to hang out with me?"

"Of course I do! You are my best friend, aren't you?"

Bolin didn't know if he was comforted or disappointed with her answer, but it didn't matter. He was in the mood for some grub as well, and with all the money Pabu had been making, he could actually afford it. "Alright," Bolin said, stooping over to pick up his fire ferret, "Where do you want to go?"

"Narook's Noodelry of course! That place was incredible," Korra answered, grabbing Bolin by the wrist and pulling him along with her.

Bolin couldn't help but feel a bit nervous about going with his brother's girlfriend to dinner. Even if they were going just as friends, he was trying to think if he was breaking some sort of code. _It's not like we're doing anything we shouldn't, right?_ He thought. But Mako could be a little… possessive when it came to Korra. Bolin suddenly heard his stomach growl, begging him to go get something to eat. He shrugged and decided to just go with it. Korra was right, it had been too long since they had hung out.

Korra and Bolin sat at the bar of their favorite restaurant patiently waiting to be served. For some strange reason, though, the service was slower then it had ever been. Bolin began to feel his stomach imploding as he watched all the other satisfied costumers enjoying their meals.

"What is taking so long?" Korra groaned, slumping down on the counter

"This is weird," Bolin agreed, his stomach rumbling in conformity, "They've always been super good about service. Do you think there's something going on in the kitchen?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure we ordered like half an hour ago," Korra whined. Suddenly, a light went off in her head and her expression twisted into an evil smirk. "Hey Bo, do you think I should pull the avatar card?"

Bolin looked around nervously. "I don't know… Isn't that like abusing your power or something?" Suddenly, his stomach growled louder then ever before. "But at this point it wouldn't hurt to try."

Korra giggled happily and called over to the man behind the bar, "Excuse me! Sir!"

The bartender heard her call and walked over. "Aren't you a bit young to be sitting at a bar?"

"We just want to know when our food will be ready. I mean, it's been thirty minutes and being the avatar can really work up an appetite…"

The bartender's eyes popped when he heard her title. He began to stammer, "A-avatar Korra! I-I'm so s-sorry, I didn't recognize you! I apologize for the slow service, it's just that we've had a recent change in ownership and the staff are still getting used to it."

"New ownership?" Bolin was surprised to hear that the old man who once owned the noodle shop had retired. "Who runs this place now?"

"A new woman claiming to be his daughter," the man answered with starry eyes, "she's… magnificent…"

"and probably too young for him," Korra whispered to Bolin, who snickered quietly

"Anyways, I think she'll be great for this place. She's very business savvy and seems to have some pretty high up connections," the bartender continued, ignoring Korra's snide remark, "But the cooks are still a little wary of her. They don't think she actually cares about the restaurant, rather the money that comes with it."

"Well if it secures this place's future, I'm all for it," Bolin said happily

The waiter came over holding the two teenagers' meals and apologized for their wait. Bolin and Korra quickly waved him off though, and began to dig into their food. Korra felt slightly relieved as she loudly slurped up her seaweed noodles. It was nice not to worry about etiquette for once and just enjoy her food. With Tenzin, Mako, and pretty much everyone else she knew, she always had to be on her best behavior.

Bolin was the only guy she knew with worse table manners then hers. The boy just kept doing his own thing; burping loudly and chewing with his mouth wide open, not caring what others around him thought. She had only seen him embarrassed by his behavior once, and that was several months ago when she had eaten with him in the very same restaurant. His fears were quickly assuaged when he found she was just as bad as he was.

"Mmph, so Korra, who is our new council member?" Bolin asked, half chewed noodles still in his mouth.

Korra chuckled at his table manners and answered, "This grumpy ex general who doesn't seem to know that the Great War is over."

"Really? I heard that there was some controversy of something that was said after the election."

Korra nodded, "After the people had elected him, they all asked for a speech. But all he said was 'This city is sick'. Then, he just left. If anything, I guess the guy knows how to make a lasting impact."

"Sounds like an angry dude," Bolin commented as he slurped up some more noodles

Korra shoveled some more food into her mouth and let out a loud belch. Bolin was left in stitches, almost falling out of his chair. The two began to draw negative attention from the other customers as they laughed heartily, disrupting everyone else's peaceful meal.

* * *

Fire Councilor Chinatsu was finishing up some paperwork in her manor late at night. With the newest inducted member of the council, there was much work to be done. She sighed in disappointment, her husband had to go to yet another opera alone. Being the understanding man he was, her husband didn't mind her canceling most of their nights out, but it would have been nice to spend time with him for once.

But there was work to be done, and the nation always came first. So she reluctantly bit the bullet and chose inauguration papers over her personal life.

As she signed the multitude of documents that lay before her, Chinatsu heard soft footsteps outside her door. Chinatsu became increasingly suspicious as the footsteps became increasingly audible. Ever since being captured by the Equalists, she had taken extra caution with her personal security.

For safety, she had hired two bodyguards to guard her office door, as well as a small group of soldiers to patrol her manor. "It's probably just they guards," she told herself as she turned back to her paperwork.

Chinatsu continued signing papers until she heard a sudden pained gasp come from outside her door. It definitely wasn't one of her guards.

"Is everything alright out there," she asked nervously. When she heard no response, the councilwoman quickly opened one of the drawers in her desk and pulled out an electric glove that she kept concealed for protection. Chinatsu slipped it on and called out, "Who's there? Don't come in here, or else I will be forced to take defensive measures."

She watched the door in anticipation, beads of sweat dripping down the back of her neck. For a few moments, everything became completely silent. She could no longer hear her bodyguard's idle chatter nor the light footsteps that had un nerved her so.

The door suddenly burst open when one of her personal guards was thrown through it, bloodied and beaten. She gasped when she saw the lifeless corpse slumped next to her. Chinatsu turned towards the door and saw a hooded man with a large sword strapped to his back and a long katana in his right hand slowly walk in. As soon as she saw her attacker's mask, her eyes widened with fear.

"You…"

"I gotta say, I love what you've done with the manor," the man chuckled as he advanced towards her, "reminds me of the homeland. Ah the fire nation… Maybe you should have stayed there? Sure would have saved you from this terrible fate."

"How are you here, Arbiter?! The high Council executed you long ago!" she demanded, cowering behind her electric glove.

The Arbiter took one look at Chinatsu's weapon and let out a deep laugh. "Seriously? An electric glove? I'm hurt." He grabbed it with his oversized gauntlet, completely ignoring the arcs of lightning coursing through him, and ripped it off, tossing it aside as if it were a mere toy. "I've come back from the dead to finish what I started. And just as I expected, nothing has changed." Chinatsu tried to run away, but the Arbiter grabbed her by the neck and flung her into the wall

"We have no need of your services. The Council is performing just fine on its own," the old woman coughed, her vision becoming increasingly blurry.

"The order seems to disagree," the masked man told her. He grabbed Chinatsu by the neck with one hand and held her up. "You and the others haven't been doing your jobs. The entire council and the avatar sat around playing 'who can be the greatest hero' while the threat grew out of control."

"We handled the Equalists!" she choked as she struggled to escape his grip

"Not fast enough," he sneered, "If you had actually been doing your duties, Amon would have never existed, and the siege on Republic City would have never happened. Chinatsu Akane, your failure to act is responsible for the deaths of thousands. Your crime is punishable by death."

Councilwoman Chinatsu looked the Arbiter in his cold black eyes and gasped with fear. Her struggles became even more desperate as she tried to pry the Arbiter's hand from her throat. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, the red irises, the pitch black eyes. The large sword on his back and the gauntlet that gripped her neck only confirmed her fears, "The eyes of the demon Azrael..."

"I told you, I have returned from death to finish what I started."

"Please… we couldn't stop what happened to your village…"

"Of course you could have! You had the power to stop it all! But instead you sat by and let people die until the threat was right at your front door! You, along with the rest of the council continued to prove your incompetence. Because of your failure to act, another thousand are dead."

The Arbiter drove his Katana through the councilwoman's stomach and sliced upwards, causing a sea of blood to spill out onto her expensive rug. Once she breathed her last, he decapitated her with one clean slice, letting her body fall onto the ground like a rag doll.

"Rest easy, though, you were probably the least to blame, compared to the others." He told the dismembered head, "But unfortunately, I need to send a message, and you know I don't settle for anything less then grandeur."

He held the head up next to him and pulled out a camera, pointing it at himself. "Smile old bag!" With the click of a button, the flash went off and a picture slid out of the front. The Arbiter tossed the head behind him and grabbed the picture. Once the picture had finished developing, he grabbed a pen from her desk and wrote '12:00 tomorrow' on the corner.

"This should do just fine. Tomorrow, everything burns," the Arbiter said to himself quietly. He placed the photo on her desk and then exited silently through the window, practically disappearing in the wind.

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**A/N: I hope you all like my OC villain. I tried not to make him the stereotypical brooding mastermind, but still a bit mysterious. Hopefully I've succeeded! Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, this is a makorrin story. I feel like they didn't really expand on that triangle very well in the series, and I would like to try to do just that. But for those of you with an aversion to drama, don't worry, the entire story will not be based around it.**


	4. Chapter 3: PSA

**A/N: Chapter three is now up! I hope you all like it. Also, please leave a review, the feedback really helps me. Thanks!**

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**Chapter 3: PSA**

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Korra woke up the next morning groggy and slightly disoriented. It was obvious that she was not in the air temple, seeing as it wasn't the sound of Tenzin's kids laughing or squabbling loudly that had woken her up. No, it had been one of the few nights that the young avatar was able to get a full 8 hours of rest.

With a satisfying yawn, she sat up and stretched her arms out. Korra looked down and saw that she had spent the night sleeping on a mattress. What had happened last night? She thought back to her night with Bolin and suddenly panicked. Had something happened that she completely forgot about? What would Mako say if he found out?

She took a deep breath and reassured herself that nothing had happened. There was nothing suggesting that she had done anything.

Suddenly, she heard whistling coming from other room, and the smell of fresh bacon wafted through the door. Korra shuddered once the smell hit her; it was the scent worthy of the culinary gods. She stood up from the mattress and went to go check it out.

In front of her was Bolin, whistling a tune as he fried a few strips of bacon. She looked around, but didn't see Mako anywhere. Where was he this early in the morning?

Korra looked back to Bolin, who hadn't seemed to notice that she was up. She decided to let him know that he was going to be sharing the bacon, and tapped him on the shoulder. Bolin looked behind him and smiled happily when he saw her. "Morning, Korra! You want some bacon?"

"Mmm, that sounds nice," she responded, still half asleep

Bolin chuckled, "You can hang out on the couch until it's ready. Mako went out to grab some fruit, so he should be back soon."

Korra merely nodded and trudged over to their worn out green couch, where she plopped down lazily. "So I was thinking," Bolin said as he finished up cooking breakfast.

"Don't hurt yourself," Korra remarked with a smirk

"Haha, Korra," Bolin laughed sarcastically, "Now as I was saying, I was thinking that we had a pretty good time last night. We should totally get noodles more often, make it some sort of ritual or something."

Bolin turned off the stove and handed Korra her plate of bacon. He then sat down next to her and began munching on his breakfast. "I had a good time too," Korra told him as she took a bite, "but you know what would be cool? If we tried that fire nation restaurant just down the road."

"Oh yeah, the spiciest curry in the entire nation!"

Korra nodded, "I heard that the food there is so hot, you have to sign a waiver for physical and psychological damage."

"Psychological damage? How does that work?" Bolin wondered

Korra shrugged, "I have no idea, but apparently if you eat your entire dish without needing medical attention, you get your picture put up on the wall and a free cheese wheel."

"Haha, sounds like a date!"

As soon as Bolin realized what he had just said, he covered his mouth. Korra looked away, trying not to make I contact. _Did I really just say that?_ Bolin thought, sweat beginning to bead up on his forehead, _what if Mako had heard?_ The earth bender cleared his throat and apologized awkwardly, "I'm sorry Korra… that's… that's not what I meant…"

"Uh… yeah… of course not," Korra muttered, still not looking Bolin in the eyes. Just when things couldn't get more awkward, the two heard Mako slam the door behind him. The turned to see the fire bender with a crumpled up newspaper in his hand and a shocked look on his face.

"Bro?" Bolin asked nervously, praying his brother didn't here the slip up.

"I can't believe it…" Mako said in disbelief, his eyes still wide and void.

Korra quickly ran over to her boyfriend and asked, "Please Mako, you have to-"

"Councilwoman Chinatsu is dead."

Both Bolin and Korra sighed with relief. Then the two processed what Mako had just told them. "WHAT?!" Korra gasped, snatching the newspaper from his hands, "But… but how?"

"I don't know," Mako answered, "But apparently someone was able to infiltrate her manor at night. It's unbelievable, she had put so much money into security after her kidnapping!"

"Who could possibly get past all those guards," Bolin asked, now hovering over Mako's shoulder, trying to get a glimpse at the newspaper.

"It doesn't matter how, all that matters is that a member of the council has been murdered," Korra said. She grabbed her coat off the couch and motioned for the two brothers. "Come on, we have to go down to check out the crime scene!"

Lin stared down at the gruesome scene that lay before her. A headless body with a huge stab wound in the stomach. Red markings on what was left of the neck suggested strangling. The ransacked looking room and the discarded electric glove suggested a struggle, or at least an attempt to struggle. Last, but not least, the decapitated head resting on the desk with a single photo next to it. The killer had taken a photograph of himself, not that it really helped at all, seeing as whoever it was wore a mask.

"I swear, with all the masked freaks around I'd say we're protecting a circus, not a city," she muttered to herself as she moved to a different part of the room to investigate.

As the police chief was examining the electric glove left behind by councilwoman Chinatsu, she heard one of her subordinates call for her. She turned around and saw a rookie officer standing stiffly, as if he were waiting for military commands. "What to you want Officer…"

"Matsuda!" the man answered diligently, "Officer Matsuda mam!"

"Right…" she said, "Officer Matsuda, do you have something to report?"

"The Avatar and two of her friends are outside the perimeter demanding entry. Should we allow them to help with the investigation?"

As much as Lin hated to admit it, Avatar Korra had gained her respect. After defeating Amon and restoring bending to those who had lost it, the young woman had earned her place in the city. Against her better judgment, she told Officer Matsuda, "All right, bring them to me."

The rookie nodded and scampered off. Less then a minute later, he came back with Korra, Mako, and Bolin following behind. "Chief Bei fong," Korra greeted. The avatar ran over and shook Lin's hand firmly. Lin smiled slightly and replied, "Avatar Korra, I hear you wish to assist with the investigation."

Korra nodded and puffed up, giving her best avatar look. "It's my duty as the avatar to assist with the protection of the city."

"Alright, I'll give you the rundown," Chief Bei fong motioned for the three to follow her over to the body.

When Korra, Mako, and Bolin saw the headless corpse, the three almost did a double take. Bolin bent over, looking away. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna puke," he belched, holding his mouth closed with his right hand.

"If you feel the need, do so away from the scene," Lin barked, pointing to the exit. Bolin wanted to stay involved, so he managed to swallow his bile and turned back to the bloody mess.

"From what we can gather, the killer was able to infiltrate her manor, killing any of her hired guards that got in his way. He broke the door down and attacked the councilwoman. Chitsanu obviously tried to defend herself with that electric glove," Lin pointed to the discarded and damaged glove on the ground, "But was unable to do so. The Killer probably threw her around some, hence all the broken things lying around, most likely gripping her by the neck as he did so. He then stabbed her in the stomach followed by a clean decapitation."

Korra stared at the body in disbelief. "Who would do something like this? I mean, I've seen people die, but this… this is something else."

"If you're wondering who, he was nice enough to take a picture," Lin told her, pointing to the photo lying on the desk, "Just don't touch it, alright?"

The three nodded, and moved over to the desk to investigate. Of course, the first thing they noticed was the missing head, sitting upright on the counter. Mako looked away for a bit and muttered, "The guy who killed her definitely has a penchant for the extreme…"

"And for dressing up too, apparently. Check out this picture." Korra pointed to the photo sitting on the desk. In it was a man wearing a hood and a skull mask holding up the liberated head of councilwoman Chitsanu. As the avatar looked closer at the picture, she noticed something even stranger about the man.

"Look at his eyes," she told the two brothers, "Does something seem strange about their coloring?"

"Korra, the picture is black and white. I don't think there's a way to tell if the color of his eye is strange," Mako commented

Bolin suddenly gasped, causing his brother to shoot him a dirty look. "Bo, now's not the time to be dramatic."

"But look, Korra's right!" Bolin exclaimed, pointing towards the killer's eyes, "His eyes aren't white, they're black!"

Mako took a closer look and recoiled backwards when he saw that his brother wasn't just seeing things. "What does this mean? Are we dealing with something that isn't human?"

"From your reactions, I assume you all saw the eyes," Lin guessed as she walked over from the dead body, having finished examining it.

"Do you know who or what this guy is?" Korra asked

Lin shook her head, "I haven't figured out anything about him, but I think he intends to let us all know who he is."

"What do you mean?"

Chief Bei fong pointed to the time written on the corner of the photo. "This killing was obviously meant to grab our attention, but I think it served another purpose."

"What purpose could a senseless act like this serve?" Mako asked, observing the writing carefully

"I think the whole point was for us to see the message written for us on that picture," Lin explained, "I think the killer wanted us to see the time written on this photo more then anything. At twelve o' clock tonight, something is going to happen, and if I had to guess, it's the killer telling us he's going to kill again at that time tonight, and his target will most likely be another major player in Republic City. This is all a theory, though, I'm yet to find any evidence to support it."

Korra looked sadly at the decapitated head. Councilwoman Chitsanu had never been her favorite council member, but she wasn't a bad person, and certainly didn't deserve this fate.

She tried to rack her brain thinking of possible motives the killer might have. What possible reason would there be to target Councilwoman Chitsanu? Looking at the gear the man was wearing in the picture, it was obvious he wasn't some poverty stricken bum out for revenge. Also, no normal person could kill his way past all those armed and trained soldiers.

"Do we know if this man is a bender?" Mako asked Lin, trying to find some sort of lead he could go on.

She shook her head, "There were no signs of water bending, no burns from fire bending, and no irregularities in the ground around the manor to suggest earth bending. If the killer can bend, he sure as hell was using it."

"So we've got nothing," Korra growled in frustration, her fists clenched angrily

Chief Bei fong responded, "No, we do have something. We have the time he gave us and an idea as to what his next move might be."

"So what do we do, just wait until midnight?"

"That seems to be our only option." Lin stooped over and picked the electric glove off the ground. She then handed it to Korra and told her, "Take this glove to Asami Soto and see what you can learn about it. Also, stay with her through midnight. Her high standing in the city could very well make her a target. Keep a radio nearby, though, so if crisis breaks out you can provide immediate response."

"Sure thing Chief Bei fong," Korra answered with a respectful nod. She waved for the two brothers, who were still staring at the photo, and called, "C'mon you two, we have a job!"

[11:55, Soto Manor]

Korra, Mako, and Bolin were all slouching on Asami's leather sofa as the heiress worked tirelessly on the electric glove, taking it apart bit by bit to try and find anything that might be helpful to the investigation. But she had been searching for most of the day, and still couldn't find anything. Asami was becoming increasingly frustrated with her job. She felt as if the avatar and the police had been wasting her time. It didn't help that her three guests had the radio on at full blast while she was trying to work for something they wanted.

Finally, after hours upon hours of trying to focus while listening to corny talk show hosts trying to make jokes, Asami snapped. She tore her goggles of angrily and spun around in her chair, glaring daggers at the three people relaxing on her couch. "Will you please turn that damn thing off! It's a bit hard to focus with constant chatter coming from that damn machine!"

"Don't yell at us," Mako snapped, glaring right back at Asami, "If you hadn't made the glove, we wouldn't be here!"

Asami was taken aback by her ex's accusation. "Excuse me? I'm not the one who was building these things! My father and Amon were making the gloves, not me!"

"Don't try and use that excuse! We checked the date on it and found that it was made less then a month ago!"

On the couch, Bolin seemed to be trying to dig his way under the pillows, while Korra cowered next to the armrest. The tension between the two was beyond tangible.

Asami crossed her arms angrily, "Well when a member of the council of five asks you to make her something to defend herself with, you don't just say no."

"Why not? That thing was specifically designed with malicious intent towards benders! It is a machine made only to harm, and you're still manufacturing them!"

"Alright, so I did allow electric glove manufacturing to continue. Why do you care?"

"Why do I care? Why do I care?!" Mako sneered, "You're becoming more and more like your old man every day."

"Mako!" Korra shouted in disbelief. She could not believe that he had just said such a horrible thing. Bolin seemed equally as astounded, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

"Bro…" he murmured, "not okay…"

Asami pulled her goggles back on and turned her back on all three of the benders. "You three may see the gloves as a direct attack on bending, but most non-benders see it as their only means of protection. Even though you may not want to acknowledge it, the most prevalent type of crime is bender on non-bender acts of violence. Some benders constantly use their powers to abuse and oppress those who don't share that gift. For those who don't have natural power, things like these electric gloves are their only means of defense. Believe it or not, not all non-benders are out to get you," she explained them calmly and coldly, not even glancing again in their direction.

Mako's frown fell from his face for a second, but then quickly returned as he stood from his seat and stormed out of the room. Asami continued to work on the glove silently. Korra was about to get up and follow him, but Bolin placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. "This is a brother talk," he told her. Bolin then stood up and chased after his brother.

Korra decided if she wasn't going to comfort Mako, she could try her luck with Asami. "I'm sorry for what he said," Korra apologized, hoping that Asami wasn't too angry to at least talk to her, "Mako… he's still not completely over what happened."

"It's fine, Korra," Asami sighed, still not looking away from the glove, "It's not like he doesn't have a reason to be mad."

"What to you mean," Korra asked, a bit confused by her sudden change of heart.

"He really cares about you, Korra, I hope you know that," Asami said as she continued to take apart the glove, "I think that he sees these gloves as partly responsible for you being in danger, and there for can only think of them as dangerous and ruthless weapons. It's just like how he sees my father and I. Since he was a large proponent of the Equalist movement, and I'm his father, Mako can never fully trust me. He may try, but deep down he will always see me as a danger."

Korra knew that Asami was right; Mako cared about her to a fault. She was flattered that she was so important to him, but she had become an obvious weakness of his. Mako tended to get out of control when he thought Korra's life was in jeopardy, and with this new killer targeting important people; he probably saw it as a direct threat to her life.

"Huh, that's strange…"

Korra peeked over Asami's shoulder, looking at the disassembled glove. "What's strange?"

"This glove's been fired off once," Asami answered, staring at the glove as if it were some great mystery.

"Wait, what's so strange about that?" Korra asked

"Let me explain. These gloves are designed to fire off an overcharged shock each time one of the pressure spots have been activated. The shock makes the gloves quite effective, but unfortunately also makes them have a very short life. Each time the glove sends out this surge, the wires inside are all slightly burnt."

Korra looked at the inner wires of the glove carefully, and saw they were all slightly singed. "So that means Chitsanu was able to shock the killer! But how was he still standing after such a powerful shock? I remember when I was shocked by one of those, and it knocked me out cold!"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out…"

"Hello Republic City! This is Yami Senzo, welcoming you back to 'The Scoop', your favorite radio talk show in the entire URN! Now, if you all recall, before the commercial break I was speaking with psychologist and investigator, Long Chang, about the recent murder of Councilwoman Chitsanu! Mr. Chang, how are you?"

"I'm doing just fine Yami," the guest answered with a light chuckle.

"So can you shed some light on this situation? I know the basics, but can we get any specifics on how exactly Chitsanu was killed?" Yami Senzo asked eagerly, knowing that a comment from the investigator would cause his ratings to skyrocket.

The Arbiter watched from the shadows of the broadcast studio as Long Chang began disclosing a few harmless details to the public, such as cause and time of death. He made sure to keep an eye on the clock as it ticked closer and closer to midnight.

11:57…

"So the murderer stabbed the victim, and THEN decapitated her?" Yami Senzo gasped in fake disbelief, "How terrible!"

Long Chang nodded, "Whoever killed the poor woman is a very sick man…"

11:58…

"And I imagine the police were on the scene right away?"

"No," Long Chang said, "The killer killed off everyone who would have been a witness. The only way the authorities found out was because an employee of the mansion, whose name will remain anonymous, found the trail of blood the killer had left."

11:59…

"I've heard rumors that Avatar Korra was on the scene, assisting with the investigation, is this true?" Yami Senzo asked

"Avatar Korra was in fact assisting with the investigation. She was with Chief Lin Bei fong as Republic City's finest scoured the area for clues," Long answered

Yami Senzo laughed heartily, "Well good for her. That young Avatar is really something special!"

"Yes she is, Yami," Long Chang agreed

12:00…

The Arbiter smiled under his mask as he dropped down behind the two quietly, drawing his katana as he snuck up on them. "Sorry Yami," he whispered under his breath, "Your show's been cancelled." The masked man drove the tip of his katana through the headrest of Yami Senzo's chair and through the back of the talk show host's head.

Long Chang fell out of his seat when he saw the thirty inches of cold steel burst out of Yami's forehead, splattering blood all over his new suit. The Arbiter turned towards the terrified investigator, who began to stammer, "N-no, no please! I-I'll give you what you want, I swear!"

The Arbiter laughed at his desperate attempts to beg as he backed Mr. Chang up against a wall. "Heh, I seriously doubt that." With another swift movement, he cleaved open Chang's neck. Long Chang gasped and gurgled for a couple seconds as he fell to the floor, bleeding everywhere.

Once the two hosts had been dealt with, the Arbiter picked up the microphone that Yami Senzo had dropped and poked it a couple times to make sure it was still on. He then brought it up near his mask and said in an icy and threatening voice, "Hello Republic City. This is the Arbiter speaking."

Korra and Asami had been diligently studying Chitsanu's electric glove, with the radio on in the background. They had been able to tune out the Yami Senzo's talk show now that they had found some sort of lead to follow.

"Maybe that armor he was wearing was electric proof?" Korra suggested, remembering the murderer's strange attire.

Asami considered the possibility for a second, but then shook her head. "I don't think there's any armor that could have withstood the shock from this glove. You said it yourself, it's pretty powerful."

Korra shrugged in defeat. "Well then I got nothing."

"I'm so glad the avatar is taking such an active roll in the community, you know? Having a figure as popular and strong as her for the people to follow is just what this city needs. Am I r-GYUGH!"

Yami Senzo's sudden strange outburst startled both Korra and Asami. The two of them turned to the radio and looked at it suspiciously. Korra quickly moved over and fiddled with the volume knob, trying to bring up the volume. As she turned the dial, another sound was heard. "N-no, no please! I-I'll give you what you want, I swear! AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

"Mako, Bolin! Get in here, quickly!" Korra yelled at the top of her lungs

Almost immediately, the two brothers were at her side, Mako with a crazed look in his eyes. "What's wrong Korra? Did something happen? Are you alright?" he sputtered, checking her over for wounds.

"I'm fine," Korra reassured him, "But whoever's on this talk show isn't!"

"What do you mean?" Bolin asked, looking over the radio in question

"I think two people were just murdered during a live broadcast," Asami told him

"Murdered? How?"

Korra quickly shushed him and watched the radio intensely. After a couple seconds of silence, a new smooth voice was heard. "Hello Republic City. This is the Arbiter speaking."

"The Arbiter?" Mako whispered, "Who the he-" He was immediately shushed by the other three, who continued to stare at the radio intensely.

"Most of you don't know me by that name," the voice continued, "rather you know me as the man who murdered fire councilor Chitsanu. Yes, I'm sure you've all heard of her unfortunate passing by now, the order has made sure of that."

"This guy's the murderer?"

"SHHHH!"

The voice chuckled, a sound that sent chills down Korra's spine, and penetrated her very soul. "By now, I'm sure Chief of Police, Lin Bei fong, is already on her way with her arrest team, so I'll make this quick. Avatar Korra!"

Mako, Bolin, and Asami all turned to Korra, who was still glaring at the radio.

"Avatar Korra, you have failed to perform your duties. You heard me; you have failed at your single purpose on this earth, yet you continue to fool yourself into thinking your performance has been acceptable. The fools of this city have held you up to be the shining example of heroism."

"Don't listen to him, Korra," Mako warned her, but it was too late. She was already captivated by the Arbiter's speech.

"Let me tell you all the sad truth of the matter," the Arbiter said, his voice gaining power as he continued, "The avatar has let you all down. While you may see her victory over the Equalist movement as a triumph, it is anything but. Avatar Korra played around with two pro benders while the blood bender known as Amon gained support and manufactured weaponry. She whored herself out to a professional fire bender as the Equalists hurt and terrorized Republic City. She, along with the counsel, allowed the situation to escalate to the point where war with what used to be a small group of extremists was inevitable. And now, thousands are dead."

The weight of the Arbiter's words hit Korra like a ton of bricks. _He's right_, she thought, her mouth gawking with disbelief, _I did let the Equalists grow out of control._

For a few seconds, the Arbiter went silent, his words sinking into Korra like poison. Then, in a softer, but equally intimidating voice, he continued, "Every two days, I will kill a member of the group responsible for this failure. I am giving you one last chance, Avatar. Prove yourself to me. Show me you are worth the title the spirits have bestowed upon you. And if you cannot prevent the deaths of all those who did nothing to protect the people that trusted them, then I will come for you. I will kill you so that a new Avatar may be born, one who will stay true to their responsibilities. My first target is Southern Water Tribe Councilman Ulva."

The radio signal was suddenly cut off, leaving only loud static, blaring through the speakers.

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**A/N: I hope you liked the chapter. Please leave a review!**


	5. Chapter 4: Decent

**A/N: Chapter four, now up! I hope you all enjoy, and please leave a review, it helps with the creative process.**

**Chapter 4: Descent**

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When councilman Tenzin stepped into the precinct, he saw that it was buzzing with activity. Officers were rushing back and forth holding stacks of paperwork with absolutely no sense of direction. He was almost knocked over on several different occasions by paranoid policemen and women. The whole building seemed to be thrown into an utter state of chaos.

After hearing the radio broadcast at home with his family, Tenzin rushed down to see Lin Bei fong as soon as possible. If the man was planning to make good on his threat, he and his family were in serious danger.

Tenzin had been searching around the station for a while, but still couldn't manage to find the chief. He decided to ask around, and grabbed one of the passing officers by the shoulder. Unfortunately, the officer seemed in a rather foul mood, and did not take well to the disruption.

"What do you want old man?" he demanded, "I'm a bit busy right now!"

Tenzin frowned at the rude officer and answered calmly, "I am Councilman Tenzin, and I wish to speak with Chief Bei fong."

When the officer heard his title, he immediately dropped his paperwork and began apologizing. "I'm so sorry, councilman! We here at the precinct have been a little on edge after the terrorist's announcement, and especially with how the arrest attempt went-"

"Hold on, what happened during the arrest attempt?" Tenzin asked nervously

"You didn't hear? It was like nothing they had ever seen before, apparently! The guy managed to hide in the broadcast station and catch the squad by surprise. Killed three of them and severely injured nine of our best officers. He then managed to escape the premises without alerting any of the surrounding airships."

"So this man, the Arbiter, is still out there?"

The officer nodded gravely, "I'm afraid so. We're trying to build up security around his target while we search for him."

Whoever the Arbiter was, Tenzin knew that he was not a force to be trifled with. Evading an arrest team so easily and slipping out unnoticed is a feat that very few could accomplish. The threats that were made were not to be taken lightly, and from what the Arbiter had announced, he and his family could very well be the next target. That wasn't a risk he was willing to take. "Officer, it is imperative that I speak to Chief Bei fong right now."

"She's upstairs in the medical room meeting with one of the men from the arrest team," the officer told him, pointing to a flight of stairs to their right.

Tenzin bowed politely, and then ran up to the infirmary, where he saw Chief Bei fong sitting next to a bruised and bloodied officer. The air bender was taken aback by the beating the policeman had received. The area around both his eyes were purple and swollen. His left hand was completely wrapped, and his foot had a large cast on it as well. His right arm was in a sling and from the looks of it, the policeman was missing a couple teeth.

Lin looked up from her injured officer and grimaced slightly when she saw Tenzin. "What happened?" he asked her, still not taking his eyes off the policeman in bed.

"Didn't you hear?" Lin laughed bitterly, "We got our asses kicked by one man and ended up looking like fools. Not only that, but we couldn't stop his broadcast, but you probably already know that, seeing as you're here."

"Lin, he threatened to kill the entire council, as well as Korra," Tenzin said gravely

"Don't worry, Tenzin. This guy caught us by surprise once, but we won't be thrown off guard again. The Arbiter's given us a time and a target, he's practically handing himself in."

"So what do I tell my wife? My kids? Korra?" Tenzin asked the chief of police

Lin stood up from her seat to face him. "Tell them that we have it under control." Her expression softened as she placed a reassuring hand on Tenzin's shoulder, "Don't worry, we won't let this man hurt anyone else. I'm going to make sure of it, and Korra is going to help too."

"Korra?"

Chief Bei fong nodded, "Yes, Korra. This may sound surprising, especially coming from me, but she is the best bender I've seen in a long time. This 'Arbiter' may think himself a great warrior, but I highly doubt he would last a minute in the ring with the Avatar." Lin then sighed, "I just hope she knows after that little speech last night."

Tenzin knew Lin was right. Korra may act tough, but deep down she was easily intimidated by confidence that exceeded her own. The Arbiter was confident and charismatic, Tenzin himself felt himself shaking when the masked man delivered his threat via radio.

Tenzin hated to admit it, but in a way the Arbiter was right. They had allowed Amon's movement to grow out of control, not recognizing the threat that was right in front of them. The man had spoken with such conviction and belief that it was hard not to see the sense in his argument. But, no matter, his crimes were unforgivable, and the way he spoke of the Avatar, as if she was some sort of harlot, was inexcusable.

One thing was for certain, though, he needed to find Korra before she did anything rash. The girl had a history of not thinking straight when being called out so directly.

Just as he was about to leave, he heard someone yell, "Chief Bei fong!"

Tenzin turned around and saw Mako standing behind him, his face contorted into one of pure rage, with Asami behind him, trying to pull him back.

"Mako, come on, this isn't worth it!" Asami pleaded, as she tugged on his arm, but the fire bender merely brushed her off.

Lin looked at Mako, un-amused with his behavior, and asked, "What seems to be the problem?"

"What are you thinking, sending Korra up against this psychopath!" Mako questioned, pointing his finger at the police chief accusingly.

Chief Bei fong simply raised one eyebrow and said, "Come again?"

"Don't play dumb with me," Mako growled, his fists tightened and held up threateningly, "I heard what your messenger told her! You're going to make her guard Councilman Ulva!"

"Of course I am. She is the avatar, protecting others is her duty," Lin responded curtly

"Do you even care what happens to her?"

"I care a great deal for the girl," Lin snapped, "But it's her job to protect the people of the United Republic of Nations. That's what she was born to do!"

Mako stared at her in disbelief, "You sound just like that terrorist, commanding Korra to throw her life away for everyone else! Hasn't she done enough?"

Lin bit her lip nervously, choosing her next words carefully. She did not want to be compared to a terrorist, but she knew that Korra had to be the one to stand against him. If she wasn't, the public would make the mistake of believing his words, and would lose faith in their hero. Even if the entire council were to die, Republic City would survive, but if the one they looked up to, the one they entrusted their hope with, was to fall from their grace, Lin didn't want to know the result.

"You may assist her if you so please," Lin told Mako as Asami managed to pull him out of the infirmary, "But just remember where her duties lie."

* * *

The Arbiter sat in the darkness, staring at the door in front of him. After announcing his presence to Republic City, he had made his quick escape from the radio studio. The police had done their best to stop him, but in the end it wasn't enough. Even with their elite team of metal benders, who sent their iron whips out and attempted to bind him could not so much as slow him down. The Arbiter smiled under his skull mask, they had almost made it too easy.

Now all he needed to do was patiently wait for them to assemble their defenses and attempt to keep him from Councilman Ulva. But the Arbiter wasn't even worried. Even though he had given away his intended time and target, there was no doubt in his mind that Ulva's life would end before two days had passed.

He drew his katana from its sheath and held it out in front of his eyes. The beautifully crafted sword reflected the few beams of light that were able to penetrate the dark room, revealing the exquisite markings that ran down the blade. "I promise all your sacrifices will not be in vain," he whispered as he read through the characters over and over again. No longer would men and women in power ignore those who needed help the most.

"Am I interrupting something?" a soft voice asked from the other side of the room.

The Arbiter quickly sheathed the sword and looked across the table in front of him. Standing at the door was the blonde beauty, Maya, with a playful smirk on her lips. The Arbiter smiled when he saw her saunter over towards him, and greeted her with a playful, "Hello kitten."

Maya slightly frowned and sat down in the empty chair across from him. "How many times have I told you about that nickname?"

"I'm guessing you're here on business," the Arbiter sighed, motioning at the papers she was holding.

Maya shook her head and responded, "These papers have nothing to do with your assignment. I actually came down to check up on you, believe it or not."

"I didn't know you cared," he chuckled, "Did you bring me anything?"

"Hold on for a second." Maya put the papers down on his desk and began to fish through her bag. As she looked for whatever it was she planned on giving him, the Arbiter decided to take a peek at the forms she had been carrying around. He picked up the first sheet he saw and read it curiously.

"You planning on opening a restaurant kitten?"

Maya quickly sat up and snatched the papers from his hands. She scolded lightly, "Did anyone ever tell you not to poke your nose into someone else's business? But if you must know, that's the name of a small place I bought to do a little reconnaissance work of my own. Information usually travels through restaurants, you know."

"Good thinking," the Arbiter said, giving her a small wink.

Maya ignored him and placed a small box on the desk. Leaning over, the Arbiter examined the package carefully. "What is it?" he inquired

"I told you I got something," Maya said with a smile, "I think you'll like it."

The Arbiter shrugged and opened it up, revealing a bunch of small chocolates inside. He picked one and held it up in front of his face. "Cute," he chuckled as he lifted his mask a bit and popped one in his mouth. "It's been a while since I've had any."

Maya shrugged, "I figured you could use some, what with you being all bitter and all."

"So how are things sitting with the order," he asked as he chewed the truffle behind his mask.

The blonde shifted uncomfortably and answered, "They're pleased with your performance, but I'm sure you already new that. Just… be careful, alright. I know you've been waiting for this for a while now, but don't do anything rash."

"A while?" the Arbiter burst out laughing, as if Maya had just cracked the funniest joke of all time, "I clawed my way from death for this! Don't worry, kitten, I know what I'm doing. And even if I didn't, I still doubt the child could stop me."

"So confident," Maya teased, giving the Arbiter a playful poke on the chest, "You know you don't sound half as angry as you really are."

"My father once told me 'A great warrior never stops smiling until it's all over'. Bitterness is a sign of weakness, and one must always stay strong for those who they lead," The Arbiter said to her as he popped another chocolate in his mouth, "and tell me, would I be such lovely company if I sat around and brooded until my next job?"

"No, I guess you wouldn't," Maya agreed

The Arbiter finished off the last of the chocolates, and then asked her, "Will that be all, Maya?"

Maya, a bit taken aback by her hasty dismissal, simply bowed slightly and answered, "Yes, that will be all."

Before she was able to step out the door, though, she heard the Arbiter call to her, "Oh, Maya, one more thing."

Maya turned sharply on her heel and responded, "Yes?"

"Thank you for the chocolates."

* * *

Korra and Bolin stood at attention as Mako paced back and forth in front of them, muttering angrily. After he had returned from "giving that old hag a piece of his mind", Mako had dragged the two of them two the pro bending training room. Even though it was supposed to be closed, Korra was able to pull some strings to get them inside. She had told the head trainer that the fate of the balance depended on the three of them getting in, to which the man simply shrugged and responded, "Alright, you're the avatar, I guess."

"Um, bro," Bolin finally spoke up, raising his hand nervously, "Why are we here?"

"Why are we here?" Mako repeated in disbelief, "Why are we here? We need to train so we can stomp this guy! You heard him; he said he wants a fight. Well he's got a fight! We're gonna make him eat those words."

Korra nodded in agreement, she wanted to prove this 'Arbiter' that she wasn't some two-bit harlot. He had shamed her over public radio, and she didn't take to it well. At first Korra had been shocked by his words, and to her horror, slightly moved as well. But both Mako and Bolin quickly reminded her that she was the most powerful bender on earth. The two of them were probably right, she thought, so far the man had killed a defenseless old woman and took down a couple officers, but not a bender like her.

"Now from what the police have told us, this guy might not even be a bender," Mako told them as he continued to pace around, "But I think we've all learned just how dangerous even non benders can be."

"Hold on, how do we know he's not a bender?" Bolin asked

Mako let out an annoyed sigh, "Bo, if he was a bender, don't you think he would have used it when he was cornered by the police?"

"I guess so…"

Mako nodded and then continued, "Alright, then. We're going to start training." He turned to the avatar and said, "Korra, you and I are going to be working on your fire bending, first. Once we finish up, Bo will help you with earth bending. I assume your water bending doesn't need improvement?"

"It is my best element," Korra concurred

"Good, then assume your stance and we'll begin."

Korra spread her footing slightly, lowered her stance, and held her hands out readily. Mako walked around and began to inspect her as his brother began to work with a couple of stone disks. "Nice work, Korra," Mako commented as he circled around her, "Now, show me some fire fists!"

Korra followed his orders and punched out forward, sending small bursts of fire out from her fists. She continued until Mako gave her the signal to stop. "Not bad, but try and put just a little more power behind it."

She took a deep breath and focused on putting more feeling behind each punch. This time, the small bursts of fire became large orbs of inferno. Mako applauded as she continued her fire fists. After a couple dozen more reps, added on with some flame wheel kicks and dragon's breath, he motioned for her to stop.

"Nice, Korra! Your fire bending's really improved!" He complimented, pulling the young avatar into a hug.

Korra blushed slightly and laughed, "Hehe, well I had a good teacher."

Mako beamed happily, "I really don't know how much more I have to teach you."

An idea popped into Korra's head, something that she had always wanted to learn. Of course, she would have to be an experienced fire bender to learn it, but Mako had just told her that there wasn't anything more he could teach her. It was as good of a time as any.

"Hey Mako, there is one more thing you can teach me."

Mako looked at her inquisitively and asked, "What's that?"

With a wide smile, Korra answered, "Lightning bending!"

Mako suddenly became really nervous, avoiding her gaze guiltily. "I don't know Korra," he answered evasively, "Fire bending is one thing, but lightning is on a whole new level…"

"What do you mean?" Korra asked disappointedly

"Well, for one, lightning is really unpredictable. If you aren't careful, a stray bolt can do irreparable damage. Another thing is that some fire benders just can't do it. From what I heard, even the last avatar couldn't produce lightning."

Korra looked at him, wide eyed, giving him the best puppy eyes she could. "Mako, please? For me?"

Mako's will crumbled almost instantly at the sight of his pleading girlfriend. "Fine, I'll try," he muttered submissively. Almost immediately, from the other side of the room, the two heard Bolin's laughter.

"That was pitiful, bro," he guffawed, "She didn't even have to try!"

"Don't you have other things to do, Bolin?" Mako snapped angrily, shutting up the laughing earth bender. With a frustrated sigh, he then turned his attention back to Korra and said, "We'll start out with lightning redirection, something you're going to want to now before trying to bend actual lightning."

"Alright!" Korra responded with excitement, taking her stance readily.

Mako took his stance beside her and began his lesson. "There are a few things you should know about lightning before we start," he said as he prepared himself, "First of all, if you ever are on the wrong end of lightning, you dodge it. Do not try to redirect it if you can get out of the way, the risk just isn't worth it. Second, you are never in full control of the lightning. If you think for a second that you are its master, it'll electrocute you without second thought."

"You act like lightning is alive or something," Korra giggled jokingly

Mako glared at her, "Korra, if you can't take this seriously, then I won't teach you."

"What do you mean?"

Mako knew that she wouldn't like the answer, but it was for her own good. He didn't want her messing around with lightning just yet, and frankly the joke she just cracked proved that she wasn't ready. He convinced himself that it was for her own good, and that he'd never be able to forgive himself if she got hurt while trying to bend lightning. "Korra," he said in a serious tone of voice, "I really don't think your ready for this. While you may have the skill, you don't have the maturity to handle something like lightning."

"What?!" Korra snapped angrily, "C'mon, Mako, just a minute ago you were completely fine with it!"

Mako shook his head, "And I've realized what a stupid mistake that was. Korra, lightning is dangerous, too dangerous. I wouldn't be able to handle you getting hurt because of something I taught you."

Korra huffed furiously, "Well fine then! I'll go practice earth bending with Bolin, then. Or am I not 'mature' enough for that?"

She stormed off towards the earth bender and Mako watched as she dragged him outside by the ear. He sighed in frustration; Korra most definitely wasn't ready.

**A/N: Lightning bending wasn't taken all that seriously in the first season. Instead of a powerful and dangerous form of bending, it was sort of used as just a way to power up machines. I think it's high time that it return to its former badass position.**


	6. Chapter 5: First Meeting

**A/N: Here's the fifth chapter! I hope you all enjoy. Please leave a review, and if you really liked it, a favorite.**

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**Chapter Five: First Meeting**

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It was eleven forty five, fifteen minutes away from the exact time the Arbiter had threatened to kill Southern Water Tribe Councilman Ulva, and Chief Lin Bei fong, along with most of her police force, had completely surrounded the councilman's mansion. Lin had made sure to take every precaution possible to make sure there wasn't a repeat of councilwoman Chitsanu's death. She swore to herself not to let another person fall victim to this psychopath.

Cheif Bei fong herself was in an airship, hovering around Councilman Ulva's mansion. At the first sign of trouble, she and an elite team of Metal benders were going to drop down and attack. She was going to show him that no one could commit such violent murder, threaten the life of another, and still retain his freedom. The Arbiter was going to pay for his crimes.

The mansion defense was very carefully organized and planned out. A handful of officers would watch the perimeter for any suspicious activity. After them, a small group of guards would be patrolling the different rooms of the manor, making sure no one but those employed, as servants are present, performing frequent identity checks on everyone. And, finally, in Ulva's oversized office, which was situated in the very center of the estate, there were to be dozens of officers and the avatar, all standing vigilante in case the other two lines of defense were broken.

Councilman Ulva's office was nothing short of incredible. The man really had a taste for grandeur. The room looked more like a throne room, adorned with banners from the water tribe and tall pillars that reached all the way up to the ceiling. Leading up to the desk where Ulva worked was an expensive blue carpet. To sum it all up, the room was huge.

Korra stood at the ready with Mako and Bolin next to councilman Ulva, who was sitting at his desk sweating profusely and mumbling nervously. The three of them had been standing in the same spot for over two hours, and were honestly beginning to hope the Arbiter had just given up.

"Maybe he got scared and wimped out?" Bolin suggested with a smile

Even Mako was starting to become convinced that the assassin would never show. "Yeah, so much for all that big talk two days ago!"

Korra wanted to join in with them and start bashing this self proclaimed Arbiter, but she knew it wasn't true. She had heard the man's voice, and she knew for a fact that he was going to show himself. His speech had such conviction, such emotion, it reminded her of those Amon gave to his equalist followers.

"Hey Korra, you alright?" Mako asked in a concerned tone

Korra made sure not to betray her true feelings and responded, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine Mako. Maybe you two are right, maybe this guy was just all talk."

"Oh, do you think so?" councilman Ulva hoped out loud, "Do you really think he'll just give up?"

Korra took a look at the high security, and the place did look pretty impenetrable. But she also knew that where there's a will, there's a way, and the Arbiter certainly sounded as if he had the will. But Ulva didn't need to know that. "I'm sure you'll be find councilman."

Ulva sighed with relief, and looked at ease for a second. But soon, his old worrying self returned as he began to fret, "But didn't he kill three officers on his own, not to mention more then half of Chitsanu's personal guard? What if he finds a way in? What if he manages to get me? Oh, all this worrying is making me thirsty!"

"Calm down sir," Mako told him, placing a reassuring hand on the councilman's shoulder, "Korra has this all under control. She is the avatar, isn't she?"

"Yes, I suppose so," Ulva agreed as he used a hanky to wipe the sweat from his brow, "I just wish I had a nice drink at the moment. Perhaps some tea?"

"We'll send someone out to prepare some in a bit, but right now we need to assure your safety," Korra told him, a bit put off by Ulva's apparent obsession with tea

"How much longer do we have to stay here?" an impatient Bolin whispered into Korra's ear

"Until the time frame in which the Arbiter had threatened to kill Councilman Ulva is over. Once that's finished, we can head out."

Bolin found the answer acceptable. With a goofy smile, he whispered again, "Maybe we can grab some seaweed noodles afterwards, I'm starving."

Korra laughed softly, "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too."

"Focus you two," Mako snapped, shooting them both reprimanding glares. Both Bolin and Korra looked at the ground submissively and stood their ground without another word.

The three waited a little while longer, but still no sign of the assassin. It was actually beginning to the Arbiter HAD given up. Ulva was already starting to brighten up, seeing as he wasn't murdered brutally like he was assured he would be. Korra felt a little better as well. The timeframe in question had almost passed, and there was no sign of anyone.

"Well, I believe it is time for some celebratory tea," Ulva cheered in a jolly voice. He turned to Korra and asked, "Avatar, do you wish to stay for tea? I am aware that the man you were waiting for did not make good on his hollow threats, but I would still like to thank you for your protection!"

Korra smiled sheepishly, "Oh, it was nothing, really. Just, you know, doing my job."

"Nonsense, it would be my honor to serve the avatar tea."

As if on queue, one of the policemen opened the door, and in walked one of the servants, pushing a cart with a full tea set on top. Ulva smiled happily as the man pushed the teacart down the blue carpet and up to the desk, licking his lips in anticipation. Korra had to say, the set looked pretty nice. There was a whole assortment of different fine china, along with a delicious smelling herbal tea.

"Tea, councilman?" the servant asked in a cool voice

As soon as Korra heard the man speak, she felt a chill go down her spine. She knew that he was just another servant, and had seen him pass the identification inspection herself. Korra couldn't really get a good look at his face, since his saucer hat cast a shadow over most of it. But there was something wrong that she couldn't quite place her finger on.

Right as the servant began to set the tea set on Ulva's desk, though, Korra suddenly realized what felt so wrong. "Hold on," she said suspiciously, glaring at the servant, who had frozen as soon as she had spoken up, "We didn't ask for any tea."

"You didn't?" The servant chuckled to himself in a low tone, "My bad."

Korra's eyes widened as she jumped forward and yelled out, "COUNCILMAN ULVA!"

But it was too late. The servant reached for his belt and grabbed the hilt of a concealed sword, drawing the katana with a deadly diagonal slash, tearing open the councilman's neck. Time seemed to slow as the now dead councilman fell backwards, chair and all, blood gushing out from the fresh wound and splattering all over the top of the desk. Then, with a thud, the body landed on the floor.

Everyone in the room stared at the servant in disbelief for a bit, not moving or uttering a word. The killer grabbed his servant's attire and tore it off, revealing an armored cloak, a hood, and a mask. The Arbiter smirked under his mask and twirled the katana in his right hand. "Got the little bitch, didn't I?"

It was the first time Korra had seen the Arbiter and person, and she had to admit, it was intimidating. The man stood at a fair height, about a couple inches taller then Mako. His mask was cold and emotionless, concealing most of his face. The broadside of the large sword strapped to his back was looked as if it had screaming skulls imprinted in it, and the blade looked rugged and malicious.

The one, or rather two, things Korra could not taker her eyes off of were the Arbiter's black and red eyes. She had seen the strange coloration before, in the photo he had taken of himself holding councilwoman Chitsanu's head. But in person, they looked like they were staring into your very soul, judging your every action and thought.

She shook her head, trying to forget about the Arbiter's terrifying eyes. Korra roared in anger as she stomped the ground, tearing up two chunks of the floor in an attempt to intimidate her opponent. They floated next to her as she shouted to the officers, "One of you grab Chief Bei fong!"

One nodded compliantly while the others stood at the ready, waiting for the Arbiter to make his move. Mako and Bolin followed suite, the first taking his bending stance and the other pulling out two chunks of the floor like Korra had.

The Arbiter looked around at all the threatening stances and began to laugh. "This hardly seems like a fair fight," he teased, still twirling his katana in his right hand. The small spaces in-between the segments of the huge gauntlet on his left began to glow orange, as if it were powering up for a fight. "I mean, there's one of me and, what," The Arbiter began pointing to each one of the officers, counting in his head, "fifteen of you!"

"You kill a man by surprise like a coward, and then dare talk to us about fair?!" one of the officers shouted

The Arbiter laughed even harder at this, "I did tell you exactly when I was coming, didn't I? Not exactly a surprise attack."

"Put your hands up and surrender," another officer demanded, "Or else we'll use lethal force!"

The Arbiter turned to the officer who had spoken up and pointed his katana out threateningly. "I'd like to see you try."

The hotheaded metal bender shouted out angrily as thick cords shot out from his glove towards the masked killer. The Arbiter quickly stepped to the side and swung his katana through the metal wires, slicing them in half. Before the officer could react, the Arbiter grabbed the tips of the now shortened cords and yanked him forward, into the tip of the katana. The steel blade drove straight through his armor and out the other end as the officer gasped his last.

"Any more objections?" the Arbiter asked the rest, his sword still impaling the poor dead officer. The other officers backed off slowly, fearing for their lives at the hands of the vicious killer. Korra wasn't going to let the killer get away, though. As the Arbiter turned and made his way towards the door, she yelled out in anger and fired the two chunks of rock towards him. "You won't get away!"

The Arbiter turned around at the last minute and ducked under the attack, narrowly dodging the attack. He looked straight at Korra, who was panting furiously, and smiled under his mask. "I was starting to worry you'd just let me walk out." He charged towards her, his katana ready to strike. Korra stood her ground, though, using bending to pull water out of her canteen. She quickly lashed a tendril of water towards the arbiter, attempting to swat him away. The masked man wouldn't be stopped, though; he jumped over the water whip with speed and grace. The whip burst on the wall behind him, leaving a large puddle.

Korra conjured up several ice shards and launched them towards her rapidly approaching enemy, but each projectile was knocked away with several swings of the katana.

The Arbiter was almost within slicing range, so Korra made a desperate attempt to form a water shield in front of her. But she was too slow, and the Arbiter cut through her defense before it had even formed.

"And here I was, thinking this would be hard," he taunted as he prepared to deliver the final strike, to finish the avatar off once and for all.

Korra turned away, her eyes closed, preparing for her eminent death. She couldn't believe she had lost so quickly, and not one of the officers in the room had lifted a finger to help her. As she waited for the katana to carve through her neck like butter, she heard someone shout, "DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"  
She opened her eyes just in time to see Mako shoot a bolt of lightning directly at the Arbiter. The masked assailant turned around just as the bolt was about to hit him and she heard him mutter, "Son of a-"

The bolt made contact with a satisfying CRACK knocking the Arbiter off his feet and through the side of the wall. Mako quickly ran over to Korra, who was still sitting on the ground in disbelief. "Korra, are you alright?" he asked frantically, "Did he hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine," she told him. She looked over to where the Arbiter had been flung and saw a huge dust cloud where he had hit. Mako had just let him have it. Korra looked to her right and saw the Arbiter's katana lodged in the ground next to her. _There's no way he's alive_ she thought_ after being hit point blank with lightning, he should be a well done corpse._

Just as the group began to rest easy, they began to hear an eerie sizzling noise coming from the dust cloud. A strange blue light began to eminate from the cloud. Korra stood to her feet and squinted, trying to see what exactly was causing such a noise. "Uh, guys, what's that noise," Bolin asked nervously.

Suddenly, several tendrils of lightning erupted from the dust, honing in on the metal armor worn by every officer in the room. The policemen and women screamed in pain as the electricity coursed through their bodies, killing all of them almost instantly. As their bodies fell to the ground smoldering and smelling of burnt fresh, the dust began to clear and out walked the Arbiter. His armor was slightly blackened and his hood was a bit singed, but overall he looked as if he was practically untouched.

"But, how?" Mako gasped, staring at the Arbiter in disbelief as the masked man casually approached he, Korra, and Bolin.

"You didn't seriously think you were the only one who could bend lightning, did you?"

Mako balled his fists angrily, put off by the Arbiter's snarky remark. "You're a fire bender!"

"What ever made you think that?" the Arbiter quipped, grinning insanely under his mask, "But if you still doubt me, allow me a demonstration."

The Arbiter stopped and lowered his stance, and raised his pointer and middle finger on both hands. He began to generate large blue streaks of electricity around him as he moved his hands. He then shot an arc of lightning upward, causing part of the ceiling to crumble and leaving a gaping hole in the roof.

"That's strike one avatar!" The Arbiter shouted over the sound of the crumbling ceiling, "I'm coming after Earth Kingdom Councilman Yi Ming next! Two days, avatar Korra, two days!"

"What do you want from me?" Korra demanded, "Why are you doing this?"

In a biting tone, the Arbiter responded, "Because you can't stop me."

With those final words, he sprinted towards his sword and pulled it out of the ground in one swift movement. The Arbiter then shot a stream of lightning from his fingers towards the ground, propelling himself out the gaping hole in the ceiling. Bolin tried to knock him out of the sky with a barrage of fist sized stones, but couldn't manage to land a hit as the masked killer disappeared from the crime scene.

Korra threw her canteen down on the floor and stomped on it, enraged. "What the hell just happened?" she screamed in frustration, "There were fifteen of us and one of him! How could we let him get away!"

Bolin squatted down over one of the officers' corpses and reported, "It looks like their metal suits made them easy targets for lightning. Maybe the police should consider not wearing these."

"Where were the other policemen when we were being attacked!" Mako snapped, "Did they not hear anything?! Did Chief Bei fong not see the lightning?!"

"Umm, Mako?"

Bolin directed their attention to the smoldering hole in the roof. Off in the distance, they could see a flaming blimp slowly descending towards the Republic City bay. The Arbiter had shot down the police chief's blimp with a single bolt of lightning.

Korra still couldn't believe how wrong everything had gone. They had a perfect plan, guards stationed almost everywhere, even air support! Surely the officers guarding the door must have at least checked him? There was no way that he could have walked right by them, unless they were…

"No."

She picked up the pace, sprinting towards the door and flinging it open, hoping and praying that she wouldn't find everyone in the mansion dead. What she saw on the other side, though, almost stopped her heart.

Guards were strewn out on the floor, all of them motionless. "No, no, no, no," Korra muttered as she knelt down next to the closest one. She put two fingers on the officer's neck and checked for a pulse.

"Please be alive," she she held her breath and begged quietly as she waited

Finally, she felt a faint beat. Korra sighed with relief; the officers weren't dead! They had merely been struck unconscious by the Arbiter as he made his way to the late Councilman Ulva's office. Her relief was short lived, though, as she soon remembered that the Arbiter had gotten away, and would soon come back to murder Councilman Yi Ming.

"Korra, where did you go?" she heard Bolin call from Ulva's office

Korra debated whether or not to respond. She honestly wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone at the moment. She had failed Ulva, the dead officers, Mako, and Bolin. The Arbiter had killed the councilman, just as he had promised two days ago. She had been warned and given time to prepare; yet it wasn't enough to stop the lightning bender. When Ulva's death was announced next morning, the people would riot, and Korra knew this. They would feel betrayed, like the Arbiter's sentiment that she was unfit to protect the Republic of Nations was true.

"Korra?" Bolin called again

The young avatar decided that she needed some air, and quickly took off, fleeing the mansion to clear her head.

**.**

**A/N: Thus ends the first confrontation between the Arbiter and the Avatar! Sorry there wasn't much of a fight, but I figured that the group should get thrashed the first time around. Things will get better, though, I promise! Please live a review if you can, they're really helpful!**


	7. Chapter 6: Meeting New Friends

**A/N: Chapter six is now up! And to address something in the last chapter, the Arbiter's flawless victory was partly because every officer in the room was wearing metal, which as you all know, attracts lightning. So, don't worry, the Arbiter won't be some unstoppable god character.**

**.**

**Chapter Six: New Friends**

**.**

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Korra found refuge in Naruk's Seaweed Noodlery, which was amazingly still open at one in the morning. She couldn't bear to face the next day. What would the people of Republic City say once they found out that she couldn't prevent Councilman Ulva's untimely demise? He was loved by the people for his kind heart and jolly attitude, and his death would definitely cause massive unrest.

She thought back to how stupidly she had allowed the Arbiter to approach the councilman, under the disguise of a servant nonetheless! The ruse had been done to death, it was the oldest trick in the book, and yet she had completely fallen for it. And then she had underestimated him, trying to stop the Avatar with basic bending techniques. Next time she wouldn't be so naïve. Next time, she would show the Arbiter the true power of the avatar. But for now, all she could do was wait and prepare herself for the next confrontation. Councilman Yi Ming would not follow Ulva's fate, she was going to make sure of that.

"Isn't it a bit late for dinner?" she heard someone ask her as she moped around on her bar stool. Korra turned around and saw a young blonde woman had taken the seat next to her, and was enjoying a small glass of sake. "Or early," the woman continued, "depending on how you look at it."

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you all closed?" Korra apologized, a bit puzzled as to why the front door was unlocked.

The woman let out a small laugh, "Don't worry about it, sweetheart, as long as I'm here, this place is technically open. Although don't expect much in the food department, all the chefs have gone home."

Korra remembered what the waiter had told her a few days ago about the change in management. He had said that Naruk's daughter had taken over the business and was running things now. But this girl didn't look remotely water tribe, her hair wasn't brown and her skin wasn't a faint mocha color. "I'm sorry, but are you Naruk's daughter?" Korra asked curiously, anxious to figure out just who this mysterious woman was.

"I guess you could call me that," the woman answered cryptically, taking a sip of her drink after finishing her sentence, "But I'd much rather you call me Maya, Avatar Korra."

Korra chuckled bitterly, "I guess I can't go anywhere without people knowing my name now a days."

"Well you are the most powerful bender in the world, I'd be surprised if you weren't a bit of a celebrity," Maya pointed out, "Besides, isn't fame what everyone strives for?"

Korra's gaze dropped to the counter as she sighed dejectedly. "It's not as great as people make it out to be."

"Oh really, and why is that?"

"Because, people expect so much from you," Korra explained, "They see you as some sort of messiah, and believe that you can do anything. But the truth is I'm just one girl, I can't save everyone, no matter how hard I try."

Maya took a long sip from her glass, finishing off the sake. She then set the cup down gently, and replied, "mmm, I don't buy it."

Korra stared at her in disbelief. She had just poured her heart out to this random stranger, and then she has the audacity to go and say that her feelings are bogus? All the woman had to say was 'I don't buy it'. "What do you mean, you don't buy it?" Korra asked in an irritated tone of voice

"I mean what I said. I don't buy it." Maya repeated, unfazed by Korra's irate attitude.

"What don't you buy?"

Maya finally looked Korra in the eyes and told her, "I don't buy that you can't save everyone. You're the avatar; the spirits themselves gave you divine power. You have the ability to save everyone."

"Then why can't I?!" Korra demanded angrily

Then, much to Korra's annoyance, Maya nonchalantly shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not the avatar." She then gave Korra a reassuring smile that somehow eased the avatar's temper. "But I'm sure you'll figure it out. It takes lots of pressure to form a diamond, right?"

Korra laughed at Maya's simple proverb. "Where did you hear that one?"

"I have a friend who is fond of all sorts of sayings. He says that using them makes him sound more interesting."

"He sounds like an interesting man," Korra said, feeling a bit better after hearing Maya's words of wisdom.

Maya chuckled, "Oh, you don't know the half of it. I'm pretty sure you two have met."

"Really? Was he at the council election we held earlier this week?"

"Yeah, in a way."

Korra frowned, what was it with this woman and cryptic answers? Did she never give a straight response? Korra decided to change the subject, since it was obvious that Maya was just going to continue leaving her frustrated and confused. "So what's running the noodlery like? This is my favorite place, you know."

"It's pretty nice," Maya answered, "the pay is good and so is the food. But I don't think the chefs like me very much."

"So I've heard," Korra laughed

Maya rummaged through her bag and pulled out a long cigarette holder with one stuck in at the end. She held it out to Korra, and asked, "Do you mind?"

Korra gave her a curious look. "Huh?"

Maya laughed at the avatars naivety, "Do you mind lighting this for me? You can fire bend, correct?"

"Oh, yeah!" Korra quickly scrambled to light her cigarette, a bit embarrassed that she hadn't caught on earlier. Maya nodded in thanks and took a long drag, and then exhaled, letting out a steady stream of smoke. "So what are you going to do now?" Maya inquired

Korra thought for a bit, and then answered, "I don't know. He was strong, so I guess I'll just have to be stronger."

"Korra!"

Maya and Korra turned around towards the source of the voice and saw Bolin bent over by the entrance, huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath. "Bolin, how did you find me?" Korra asked, genuinely surprised that the earth bender had managed to track her down.

Bolin grinned proudly, "I guess I just know you!"

Both Korra and Maya put their hands on their hips, waiting impatiently for the real answer. Bolin chuckled guiltily, rubbing the back of his neck, "I, uh, saw Naga outside."

"Maybe you should get a more subtle mount," Maya jokingly suggested, giving Korra a friendly poke.

Bolin looked back and forth between the two with a puzzled look. He then pointed at Maya and asked, "Uh, Korra, who is she?"

"This is Maya, the new owner of Narook's Noodlery," Korra introduced.

Maya gave a small polite bow and walked over to Bolin. She extended her hand to him and said, "Nice to meet you Bolin. I've listened to a couple of your pro bending games on the radio. You're quite the earthbender."

Bolin blushed sheepishly, "Thank you mam, but I don't know if I'm that good…"

Korra cleared her throat, trying to keep Bolin on track. "Bolin, why did you track me down?" she asked.

"Oh, right!" Bolin exclaimed, finally remembering why he had come, "I wanted to check up on you and tell you what's going on."

"So, what's happening?"

"Chief Bei fong woke up just a little while ago and Mako told her what had happened. Korra, she's contacting the Kyoshi guard to help us defend councilman Yi Ming!"

"The Kyoshi guard?!"

Apparently the council was putting their foot down. The Kyoshi guard was an elite team of warriors inspired by avatar Kyoshi. They were among the best fighters in the entire United Republic of Nations, and could only be described as the best of the best when it came to security. The Arbiter would definitely have a much harder time getting to Yi Ming with them around.

"The Kyoshi guard?" Maya repeated in disbelief, "That's… that's incredible!"

Korra smiled weakly, "With their help, we might be able to actually stop him this time…"

"Also," Bolin reported, "Asami wanted to meet us all in the Soto library, apparently she's got some information on the Arbiter."

"She does?" Maya gasped once again

"Well, c'mon Korra! Time's a wasting!" Bolin said excitedly. Before Korra could protest, the earth bender grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out of the restaurant, leaving Maya alone in the deserted place. As soon as she heard the door slam behind the two, Maya clenched her fists so tightly, her cigarette holder snapped in half.

"Well this may present a problem."

* * *

The Arbiter knew that he would have to stay in hiding during most of his time in Republic City, but after weeks cooped up in that single dark room planning and waiting, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to get out and see the sun again, something that, even as a fire bender, he didn't get enough on. The Arbiter had learned how to be a formidable bender without the suns rays, so he found himself staying inside most of the time.

Another thing he missed was watching human interaction, just people going about their normal everyday lives. Sure, Maya would come and visit occasionally, and he loved it each time. His kitten, or so he called her, was good conversation, something that was a lost art these days. It seemed as if everyone had somewhere to be these days. The more and more he thought of the city outside, the more and more the walls of his tiny room began to close in.

"I can't take this anymore," the Arbiter muttered to himself as he grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen from his desk, "I need to get out." On the sheet of paper he wrote a note telling Maya that he would be out scouting for a little while. He chuckled to himself as he thought of what her reaction might be if he didn't leave some kind of notice. Maya was the worrisome type, and she would definitely have a panic attack if he had disappeared on her.

After he finished the note and signed his title elegantly on the bottom, the Arbiter grabbed his katana, strapped it to his belt, and headed outside.

Now one might think wearing his full Arbiter attire in broad daylight was a bad idea, seeing as he was the most wanted criminal in the United Republic of Nations at the moment. But the Arbiter had tactfully chosen the site for his hideout in a part of the city that would sooner die then snitch on their fellow criminal. Downtown Republic City was a cesspool, a haven for thieves, con artists, gangsters, and murderers alike. The police didn't dare run constant patrols of the area, since one too many officers had gone missing or found dead after their shifts. There wasn't a single person in the downtown that wasn't guilty of something.

The Arbiter strolled down the dirty streets with his head down, listening in on different conversations as he walked on by. So far, no one had been able to see through his disguise, most likely do to the shadow his hood cast over his face. He smiled under his mask at how easily people allowed a wanted killer to walk among them.

On the sidewalks he saw dirty orphans run around, shaking down pedestrians, trying to filch just enough cash to buy their next meal. No doubt, many were left for the dead when Amon and his troops rolled through. The Arbiter didn't even need to see the orphanage to know that it was underfunded and filthy. He felt a couple hands grab at his belt as a few orphans ran towards him, trying desperately to pickpocket. The Arbiter chuckled lightly and turned to the kids, revealing his skull shaped mask. "You know there's a saying about stealing. It goes, 'don't try and steal from and armed man'. Perhaps you could learn from that."

The three little boys gasped in horror when they saw his mask and sprinted off in the other direction, too afraid to even look back. The Arbiter shook his head, still chuckling softly, "Ah, kids these days. Be it the parents or some other poor chump, they're always leeching off of someone's wallet."

"Now that's not a very nice way to look at it." he heard a voice say from behind

The Arbiter turned around and saw Maya with her arms crossed and a perturbed look on her face. He simply smiled and put his arm around her playfully, "Maya, imagine running into you here. I had left you a note back at the hideout, but now I can tell you in person that I'm going for a little stroll."

Maya rolled her eyes and responded sarcastically, "I can see that."

"Come, kitten, walk with me," he invited her, "will paint the town red! But not with blood, cause I already did that last night."

The two began to make their way down the sidewalk together.

"You know you should really be watching your back more carefully," Maya scolded him, her eyes darting back and forth nervously, "the council is really taking your capture seriously. They even commissioned the Kyoshi guard to help take you down."

"The Kyoshi guard?" The Arbiter had heard of their fighting skills and was now very interested. "They hired the most elite team of fighters just to hunt down lil' old me? I'm flattered."

"Sir, the kyoshi are much better trained then the average officer. Maybe we should take this into consideration? After all, they won't be stupid enough to cover all the officers in metal again."

The Arbiter clucked mockingly, "Now, now, Maya, what have I said about calling me sir?"

Maya rolled her eyes, "What am I supposed to call you? You've never told me your real name."

"Just call me what everyone else calls me."

"That's not your name."

"Oh really?" the Arbiter was having too much fun with her, "If it's what I've told people to call me, and it's what everyone DOES, call me, wouldn't that make it may name?"

"Take this seriously! These warriors are not to be trifled with," Maya hissed a little too loudly, catching the attention of some of the bystanders.

The Arbiter leaned in and whispered to her, "Let's take this conversation somewhere a little more private, alright? Then we can talk about a plan."

Maya blushed a bit in embarrassment and nodded compliantly. The Arbiter looked around as they walked, trying to find a good find to hide where they could get away from the crowd. Finally, he spotted a small and dark ally way next to an old run down restaurant. He grabbed Maya by the wrist and pulled her aside into the ally and far enough from the main stream of people so that no one could hear them talk.

"Alright, now tell me what's up," the Arbiter said, leaning comfortably against the side of one of the buildings. But Maya wouldn't talk; rather she began nodding her head towards something urgently. The Arbiter couldn't quite figure out what she was motioning at until he heard someone say, "No… not an Equalist, just… odd. Maybe..."

The Arbiter turned to the right and saw a homeless bum sitting near a trashcan. The man was dirty and shaggy looking, as if he hadn't taken a bath in ages. His black hair and beard were grimy and chaotic. He had an amateur bandage, wrapped over his right eye and left ear, as if he couldn't afford to go to a real doctor. Judging by the tan color of his skin, he was from one of the water tribes.

Maya noticed that the Arbiter was glaring intensely at the man, as if the homeless man was going to pull a knife on them at any moment. She couldn't figure out why he looked at the man with such suspicion, but she figured it would be a good idea to shoo the bum off before anything happened. "Um, sir," she said, in her most professional voice possible, "Do you mind leaving us for a bit?"

The bum completely ignored her, and addressed her masked friend. "So, you're the Arbiter, huh?"

"And here I thought I was just another face," the Arbiter replied in a snarky tone

The man chuckled at this. "You're making waves right now. I'm shocked everyone out there didn't immediately recognize you."

"Maybe they just didn't want to recognize me," he said with distain

Again, the man laughed throatily, coughing occasionally in between. "Good point, Arbiter. You know, I'm all for your cause, avenging those who were forgotten in the battle against the Equalists."

It was now the Arbiter's turn to laugh, catching the homeless man off guard. "You think that's what this is all about? If so, you both still have much to learn."

The man's eyes widened and he sputtered, "H-how, did you, no I'm not going kill him, shut up."

Maya was officially confused. 'Both of you'? There was only one crazy bum talking to himself. Was there someone else hidden somewhere. She whispered to the Arbiter, "What are you talking about?", but he ignored her.

"You think you're the only one whose been tainted by the spirit world? These eyes see everything, including one's soul," The Arbiter leaned in closer to the man, showing him his pitch black eyes and his blood red irises. "Revenge has nothing to do with my goal."

"Stop, shut up about the sword!" the man hissed at himself. He then turned to the Arbiter and said, "Well I wish you good luck. And, I gotta say, it's much nicer knowing that you're not the only one out there who's sold their soul."

The bum stood up and walked away, seemingly taking some of the darkness as he left. As the man disappeared into the shadows, Maya asked the Arbiter, "Who was that man?"

"Someone who's met a terrible fate," the Arbiter responded, "But don't trouble yourself with him. Let's focus on the task at hand."

"Right," Maya agreed, "So I was thinking we should-"

She was cut off by a sudden, loud cough from the Arbiter. "Are you alright?" she asked in a concerned tone of voice.

The Arbiter coughed out, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just give me a second." He reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a small green pill. With one swift movement, he pushed his mask up slightly, just enough to reveal his mouth, and popped it in. After another pained cough, he slid his mask back into place.

Maya looked at the Arbiter suspiciously, she had never seen him suddenly break out coughing before. But she trusted him when he had told her it was nothing, and thought nothing of it. But, just to make sure, she asked again, "Are you sure you're alright? I mean, we can do this later."

"I'm fine, Maya," he rasped, but in an uncharacteristically weak voice. He straightened back up slowly and seemingly painfully, letting out pained grunts as he did. "But there is something I need you to do for me."

"And that is?"

The Arbiter handed her a tightly sealed envelope with a strange looking seal on it. "Sometime soon, I need you to take this to the hospital. Give it to the woman at the front desk and she'll give you a bottle. Bring the bottle back to me, but do not look at its contents."

"Alright..." Maya said, a bit annoyed by the Arbiter's cryptic request. She did as he said and pocketed the note, figuring it was a request for some sort of poison he was going to use on his next target.

"There are some other things I need you to get as well," he told her, pulling out yet another list and handing it to her, "These are some of the supplies we're going to need if we're going to get past the Kyoshi warriors."

Maya skimmed through the murderous grocery list and saw that it was incredibly well detailed. Too well detailed for someone who hadn't known about the Kyoshi guard's arrival in advance. "So you knew they were coming this whole time?" she asked him as she folded the list neatly and put it in her pocket next to the envelope.

"Of course I knew, the police are as subtle as a Komodo rhino when it comes to keeping secrets. It's not even three hours since the request was sent out, and I bet the newspapers already have a story on it," the Arbiter laughed.

Maya sulked jokingly and gave the Arbiter a poke in the chest. "Remind me again why I bought that stupid restaurant."

The Arbiter shrugged, "That was your idea, not mine. But don't worry, it still has potential. Go back and keep an eye on the avatar for me. Just don't forget to get those things I asked for."

"No problem boss," Maya told him with a playful salute.

The Arbiter smiled under his mask and gave her a pat on the back. "Now get back out there kitten, it won't be long before shit hits the fan and we need to be ready when it does."

Maya nodded and split off, heading back towards her restaurant. As she walked away, she thought about what the Arbiter had told her. "Shit hits the fan, huh," she muttered to herself, "Well if what's going on right now isn't shit hitting the fan to him, I don't want to know what is." But, again, she trusted the Arbiter. Whatever he was doing, no matter how evil it seemed, was necessary. The world needed a wake up call, and sometimes the best way to do that is a harsh, fast slap across the face.

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**A/N: I hope you all liked this chapter! That's right, Maya's going undercover. Please leave a review!**


	8. Chapter 7: Studies

**A/N: Just a warning, updates will begin to slow now that I'm back in school. I'm sorry, I wish it didn't have to be like that, but my education is more important then this story. Just a heads up. Now, without further hold up, please enjoy!**

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**Chapter Seven: Studies**

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Bolin watched Korra as the two made their way through the park on the way to the Soto library. She had been quiet for so long, something that Bolin was not used to. At first, he figured that she was probably beating herself up over what happened to councilman Ulva, and would get over it pretty quickly to return to her old butt kicking self. But she had been quiet for almost half an hour, and he was starting to worry. Finally, after ten more minutes of silence, Boling decided he had had enough.

"Korra, are you alright?" he asked concernedly

Korra tried to hide the frustration in her voice when she responded, but didn't find much success. "Yes, Bolin, I'm fine. Just leave me be."

Bolin frowned at her answer. Korra was usually never grumpy like this. She would be sad, maybe cry a bit, get over it, and then move on. She never would just sulk. "Korra, I know something's up, and it's not just what happened to Ulva."

"I told you to leave me be!" Korra snapped, slightly startling poor Bolin. She saw the earth bender's hurt expression and sighed, "Look, Bo, I'm sorry. It's just the Arbiter, he really got to me, Bo."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that maybe, just maybe, I shouldn't be the avatar," she explained, tears beginning to form under her eyes, "Maybe he's right! I mean, if I couldn't stop one man from killing another, how can I protect the whole nation!"

"I mess up all the time, Korra. All we can do is learn from it, and try harder next time. You can bet your bottom yuan that the Arbiter won't catch us off guard again," Bolin told her, upbeat.

"You just don't understand Bolin!" Korra lashed out angrily, grabbing the attention of some of the people in the park, "You don't understand what it's like being the avatar! You will never understand! I'm only seventeen, and still people are asking me to take on someone who is obviously a master at his trade!"

"But you're the avatar, Korra, you have to-"

Korra cut him off, "Then maybe I should let him take me, and you all will get a new avatar!"

Suddenly, without warning, Bolin grabbed Korra's shoulders, spinning her around so that she was facing directly at him. His expression was more serious then Korra had ever seen him before. "Don't ever say that." He told her gravely, staring straight into her sea blue eyes, "Do you understand me? Don't ever talk like that again."

"Bolin…"

"You may be the avatar, but you're also my friend. One of my only friends. If you were to die, I don't know what I'd do," he continued, still gripping her shoulders forcefully. "You're not just the avatar, remember that. You're still a person, just like everyone else."

Korra finally looked up into the earth bender's green eyes and saw the one person who had accepted her without question. Even before she showed her skills in the arena, Bolin had been nothing but kind to her. No matter what happened; no matter what decision she made, he always backed her up, ready to help no matter the cost. He was the only person who had ever truly seen her for who she was, not what she was, and it had taken her this long to realize it. While Bolin had been going out of his way to make her time in Republic City the best he could, all she had done was walk all over him and push him aside.

She thought back to the month in which Republic city was rebuilding, and she and Mako had just begun their relationship. Bolin had tagged along with them less and less, until he was barely around, almost always dashing off to go earn a couple yuans on the streets with Pabu. A feeling of guilt washed over her as she continued to look into Bolin's eyes. She had to fix things, she thought, she had to make things right.

In one swift movement, Korra flung her arms around the teenage earth bender's neck and put her lips against his. Bolin recoiled in shock a bit, but slowly loosened into her embrace. The two lovingly caressed each other's lips, as if they were two long lost lovers, finally reunited. It felt like electricity was coursing through their veins, like a passionate flame was burning between them. The kiss lasted longer then both had expected it to, and when they finally parted, they each needed a few seconds to catch their breath.

"Well," Bolin said, still in shock from Korra's sudden show of affection, "That was… unexpected."

Korra gasped as the realization of her actions hit her like a ton of bricks. "Spirits, what did I do? I-I cheated on my boyfriend with his own brother."

"Oh, yeah, that's pretty terrible," Bolin said sarcastically, thinking back to when his own brother had moved in on his date. He quickly shook those thoughts from his head. What was he thinking? Just because Mako had done it to him, didn't make it right. "Mako can never know about this."

Korra nodded in agreement. She apologized sincerely, "I'm so sorry Bolin, I don't know what came over me. I was depressed over what had happened to Ulva, and then I don't know, I kind of lost control, and-"

"Korra," Bolin interrupted, "it's alright. It's partly my fault too. Lets… lets just forget it ever happened."

"Yeah…" Korra didn't know why that upset her so much. _Of course I want to forget it,_ she told herself,_ Bolin is just my friend! My really really really good friend…_ Something about the f word (and not the one you're thinking) made her feel as if her heart had dropped, but why?

"Lets just keep moving," Bolin told her. He motioned for her, and Korra followed. The two didn't talk the rest of the way to the Soto library.

* * *

"What the hell is taking them so long," Asami muttered as she paced around the main study impatiently, "Bolin should have brought her back an hour ago."

"Don't get mad at Bolin, he's trying his hardest," Mako told her sternly, sticking up for his brother while he was out.

Asami snorted at the notion, "I'm sure he is. He's probably trying to down three bowls of noodles at once right now."

"Will you calm down? Geez, I've never seen you like this before."

Asami shot him a glare that could kill a saber-toothed moose lion. "I apologize if I'm a bit anxious right now. But it's a bit hard not to be when your own government is being picked off one by one!"

"They'll be here any minute, I promise," Mako assured her, trying not to do anything to set off her temper.

The heiress threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, "Then why aren't they here! Mako, I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation! The whole nation could be in serious trouble here!"

"Gee, what gave you that idea," Mako retorted in a snarky tone, "The masked man killing off members of the high council or the masked man turning the whole city against Korra."

"Don't get smart with me," Asami snapped

Mako shrugged calmly and then said, "Besides, you won't even tell me what you know about the Arbiter. All I know right now is that he's a crazed sword swinging, lightning-hurling lunatic with a bone to pick with the avatar. I mean, he's good, really good, but that's all he is, a good fighter."

"So you didn't notice anything strange about him?" Asami asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically

Mako thought for a bit, and then answered, "Other then the fact that he wore a skull mask over his face?" Asami nodded. "No, not in particular."

"Well then you're just going to have to find out when Bolin and Korra get here. IF THEY GET HERE!" She stomped angrily, flustered by the avatar's inability to show up on time

Suddenly, the double doors to the study burst open and in ran Bolin and Korra, both out of breath. Asami walked over to the two, her eyes narrow and her lips pursued into a tight frown. "Where were you two?" she interrogated, "You were supposed to be here a while ago!"

"I'm sorry, we got caught up in traffic," huffed Bolin, who was bent over and resting his hands on his knees. Asami's frown loosened a bit, but then she heard Mako laughing from the other side of the room. The usually broody fire bender walked over to his brother and gave him an encouraging pat on the back.

"Sorry Bolin, but you don't own a car."

Asami's glare quickly returned as Bolin smiled up at her guiltily, "Heh, heh, there was sidewalk traffic?"

Korra face palmed at Bolin's lame excuse. "Another good try, Bo," she told him sarcastically, "But let's stop while we're ahead."

Bolin frowned a bit at Korra, and then turned back to Asami. "Look, I'm sorry we're late," he said apologetically, "We were talking with the new owner of Narook's Noodlery for a bit and then we got caught up in the park." Bolin winced as soon as he realized what he had just said.

"The park? What happened there?" Mako asked curiously

"Naga!" Korra hastily yelled. Bolin, Mako, and Asami all stared at her as if she had three heads. She quickly elaborated, "I mean, Naga saw one of Tenzin's flying lemurs and tried to run after it. We had to chase her all around the park, it was terrible."

"Nice save," Bolin whispered, earning him a prompt elbow in the ribs. "So what do you have to report Asami? Did you find out who the Arbiter is under that mask?"

"I, don't have anything to tell you," she pointed to the double doors that Korra and Bolin had just burst through, "But my father does."

The doors opened gently and in walked Hiroshi Soto, the money behind the Equalist movement, carrying a silver tray with a tea set on top. "Hello, avatar Korra," he greeted her with a polite bow, and then set the tea set down on the table.

Bolin, Mako, and Korra all stared at the man in disbelief. Korra couldn't believe it, Asami had brought her traitorous father in to help them fight the Arbiter. THE Hiroshi Soto, the man who had helped Amon almost bring Republic City to its knees. The man who helped build those horrible mechanized suits and warships. She didn't know how she felt about seeing him. The man had helped commit so many atrocities, that it was hard to look him in his old, tired eyes.

After a couple seconds of gawking, Mako finally spoke up, "Uh, uh, nope, not happening. He can just pick up that tea set and GET THE HELL OUT!"

"Mako!" Asami scolded, "He's trying to help us!"

"It's true," Mr. Soto added timidly

"He tried to 'help' us last time, remember how well that went!"

"I know what I did, and I'm sorry for it," Hiroshi told them, his gaze falling to the floor in shame, "But please, let me help you. This Arbiter, he threatens all those who hold power in this city, all those who he feels sat by while Amon gathered his forces. That means my daughter could become a possible target, which makes this my business."

"How can we trust you?" Korra demanded almost as forcefully as Mako.

"You can't," he answered, "But know that I would do anything to protect the only family I have left."

Korra hated to admit it, but the traitor had a good point. She knew that Hiroshi Sato would do anything if he thought it would ensure his family's safety, even help a non-bender revolution rise to power. As much as she hated it, it was a possibility that Korra would need his help. But, even with his good reasoning, she still had doubts. "What could you possibly know about the Arbiter?"

"I know enough about the history of this city and ancient spiritual lore to recognize the name."

Mako leaned in and whispered to Korra, "You aren't seriously considering this, are you?"

Korra sighed; she really didn't want to accept help from someone who had so eagerly betrayed their trust in the past. But it was looking like they didn't have much of a choice. "We need to know just who we're up against, and if that means listening to Hiroshi Sato, then so be it."

"I agree," Bolin concurred, "This may be our only lead."

Mako growled in defeat as the three made their way over to the large desk in the middle of the room, where Asami and Mr. Sato were waiting. "Alright, Mr. Sato, we'll hear you out," Korra told him as she, Mako, and Bolin took their places around the table. Hiroshi nodded and began his story.

"The name Arbiter is not a new one for me. I have been in this city almost from the very beginning, and have seen many things. But one thing I will never forget was the attempt made on Avatar Aang's life by the Arbiter."

"Wait, the Arbiter was around when Aang was?" Korra interrupted, "But the guy looks and moves like he's in his early twenties!"

"I am not saying that the Arbiter that tried to assassinate Avatar Aang was the same one that we are now dealing with today," Hiroshi explained, "I am just trying to tell you where I know his title from." He then continued with his story. "As I was saying, a while back, when Republic City was still young and the Republic of Nations was just settling into the idea of unity, an attempt was made on Avatar Aang's life.

It was during a council meeting, as I remember, and Avatar Aang was discussing Republic City's future along with the head of the council, Councilman Sokka. A young man had somehow managed to sneak his way into their private meeting room unnoticed and tried to stab the avatar from behind. Luckily for the avatar, he was able to perceive the assassin's footsteps before the blade was deep in his back.

Now I only know these events from newspapers and through my connections with the government, but apparently the assassin was a gifted swordsman, as well as an extremely talented lightning bender. But, being the avatar, Aang was able to subdue him. Only, this time, the avatar was too late. The lightning bender had already killed several of the arrest officers, and had badly wounded Councilman Sokka. For these crimes, the council demanded the death penalty."

"The death penalty?" Korra gasped, "But I thought that was outlawed by Avatar Aang himself!"

Hiroshi shook his head, "You must remember that this happened a long time ago, when the death penalty was still a viable punishment. And that's exactly what this man got. For his crimes, he was executed, hung in front of an angry crowd, his body thrown into the sea, never to be buried."

"So this man, he was the Arbiter?" Bolin asked, leaning on the edge of his seat, giddy with anticipation, "C'mon, don't leave us hanging!"

"Yes," Hiroshi answered solemnly, "He did call himself the Arbiter."

"So how does this help us understand this guy?" Mako asked, still not happy with Hiroshi's story, "From what you said, the first Arbiter is dead!"

"We were getting to that," Asami growled threateningly. The black haired beauty pulled out a couple of books and opened one of them to a specific page. "This is a list of all known orders that have ever existed. The White Lotus, the Dai Li, it's all in here."

"Again, how does this have to do with the Arbiter?"

Asami shot Mako an annoyed glare and then continued. "As I was saying, this book contains information about all known orders. Now, the title 'Arbiter' only comes up in one."

"And that is?"

"The Order of the Storm." Asami held the book up so that everyone could see the white skull with a blue lightning bolt going through it drawn on the top of the page. "It says here that they were created upon the idea that no one person should hold all the power in the world. They believed that the avatar shouldn't be a master of balance, rather a slave to the people, commissioned with the sole duty of protecting those who could not protect themselves, even if it meant sacrificing things like family and friendship. If any avatar is seen as unfit for duty, due to their inability to perform their job for whatever reason, they were to be dispatched and replaced with a new one, in the hopes that the new avatar could do what the other couldn't. And that's where the Arbiter comes in."

"So this, Arbiter, is trying to kill me so a new avatar can replace me?"

Asami nodded, "But here's the weird part. Apparently the Order has been disbanded for over thirty-five years. The Arbiter is supposed to be a warrior chosen by the council to carry out their will. But this Arbiter has no council to nominate him. He has to be acting alone, there's no way that he's an actual Arbiter of the storm."

"So he's a fraud?"

Somehow, the notion didn't make Korra feel any better. Real Arbiter or not, he had still killed a room full of officers with a single amplified bolt and still came close to gutting her like a koala sheep. "Fraud or not, he's still an incredible fighter. At this point, I'm not even sure he's human! I mean, did you see those eyes!"

"That's another thing I wanted to tell you all about," Asami pulled another book out from the stack opened it up. She laid it flat on the table so that everyone could see it, and then said, "This is a book about spirit lore my father showed me. In it, there are descriptions of all sorts of spirits and their different powers."

Korra began turning the pages, looking through each of the spirits. She saw a strange centipede looking creature, which she recognized to be Koh, the face stealer, and also the giant lion turtle. As she continued to skim through the book, a particular spirit caught her eye. It was a pale ghost looking spirit, with a black robe on and flowing white hair. Its appearance almost seemed human, except for one feature, its eyes. The spirit's eyes were black and red, just like the Arbiter's. Even looking at a drawing of them sent a shiver down her spine. "Those eyes, they're-"

"Exactly like the Arbiter's," Asami finished. "This is the spirit Azrael, a spirit of death who is said to guard the gates of the afterlife. It is legend that if one is able to slay a spirit of death, you gain their eyes, allowing you to see as the spirit once did."

"In other words, he's got super freaky death vision?" Bolin asked goofily, trying to lighten the mood.

Asami merely nodded, though. "With those eyes, he is able to see the spirit of every living being, making him an formidable hunter.

Korra came to a realization about her first fight with the Arbiter. When he had shot lightning through the roof, he wasn't just randomly firing in the air. He was able to see the people floating above the manor!

"The eyes give him other abilities," Asami continued, reading the listed powers in her book, "such as enhanced vision and slight precognitive abilities."

Bolin scrunched his face with perplexity, "Precognitive abilities? What does that mean?"

"It means that he's able to predict your move before you make it," Korra explained to Bolin, who still seemed just as confused.

Asami nodded, "Mako's right, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Even with that much power, the Arbiter is still a mortal, and I imagine that he doesn't have the ability to predict every attack we make. In fact, it's more then likely his premonition kicks in at random."

"Hold on, hold on," Mako said, slamming his fist down on the table. "I think we're all forgetting something here. To get these 'eyes of death' one would have to kill this spirit, Azrael. Spirits can't die!"

Korra felt a wave of relief wash over her. Mako was right; killing a spirit was impossible. Spirit's weren't even living in the first place, rather in some sort of limbo of existence. It would be impossible to kill something that was never alive.

Instead of responding immediately, Asami flipped through the book some more until she reached a page depicting a strange looking sword. "You may be right Mako, it may be a strange coincidence. But this proves that he has some sort of connection with the spirit realm." The group gathered around Asami to see what she was speaking of. Korra peeked over Asami's shoulder and saw a large, vicious looking sword drawn on one of the pages, followed by a written description.

The weapon was truly frightening. The broad side of the blade looked as if there were screaming skulls imprinted on it, and the blade looked just as sharp as it was large. As Korra continued to study it, she realized that it was the exact same sword the Arbiter always had strapped to his back.

"This is the Sword of Spirit's Bane," Asami told them, passing the book around so that everyone could have a better look, "There isn't much known about it, but apparently it can only be found in the spirit realm. It's said to be one of the most sinister weapons ever created, but the book doesn't say how."

"The spirit realm, that's impossible!" Korra exclaimed in disbelief. She knew for a fact that only the avatar could enter the spirit realm. No other mortal could possibly reach it; much less steal away a magic sword from it.

"It's impossible," Asami agreed, "but he somehow managed to do it."

"Great, so he's a master bender, a great swordsman, and has his hands on a mystical weapon that's power we don't even know about?" Korra had to admit the situation was beginning to sound hopeless. This Arbiter was becoming more and more of a threat. It seemed as if he was nothing less then a super soldier, the perfect killer.

"Avatar Korra, you realize what you must do, correct?" Hiroshi Soto asked

"Train intensely so that I can defeat him?"

Hiroshi shook his head and said grimly, "You won't be able to defeat him, even with intense training. His skills are too advanced and his bending is too powerful. Every Arbiter is trained to the peak of human ability. You need to defeat him the same way Aang defeated the last Arbiter. You need to master the Avatar state."

"The Avatar state?" Korra knew that she should have the ability to activate it, seeing as she hadn't suffered an injury similar to avatar Aang. After she had defeated among, Aang himself had visited Korra and given her the avatar state. It wasn't that Korra didn't know how to enter it. It was that she knew for a fact she couldn't control it.

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**A/N: I hope you all liked the chapter. Please leave a review, thanks! Oh, yes, and whatever you think about the Arbiter's origins right now, it's probably untrue. Just letting you know! (It won't be THAT obvious)**


	9. Chapter 8: The Kysohi Guard

**A/N: I know I said updates would be slower, but I had these two already written before school started, and I figured that I might as well get them up now, or else I'd never get to it. I still do mean it when I say updates will be slower from now on.**

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**Chapter Eight: The Kyoshi Guard**

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Mako and Korra sat at a table set for three in Naruk's Noodlery. It was the afternoon after Councilman Ulza's assassination, and the two were having some much-needed lunch.

Both Korra and Mako had slept right through breakfast, since they had stayed up practically all night researching the Arbiter and the Order of the Storm. By the end of their four-hour study session, the whole group was so exhausted they could barely keep their eyes open.

Asami had walked back with her father, who was being escorted by two metal benders. Bolin and Mako had taken Mako's bike back to their place, and Korra took Naga to the air temple, where she had spent the night with Tenzin and his family. She had collapsed on the couch, only to wake up at twelve o' clock. By then, Tenzin had gone to meet with the council about the whole Arbiter situation, and Pema had taken the kids to the park for the day. But the old air bender had left a note behind telling her to head to Naruk's Seaweed Noodlery. Apparently it was there that she would meet up with the leader of the Kyoshi Guard, Mai Lee.

When she had arrived at the noodlery, she saw that Mako was waiting for her at one of the tables. Apparently he had gotten the same note, inviting both him and his brother to join them for lunch. Unfortunately, Bolin wasn't feeling well, so only Mako had shown up. Korra couldn't help but think that the earthbender was avoiding her after what had happened in the park, and she felt like he had every right to. But some time with Mako would be good for her. She thought it would help her clear her head. So there the two were, waiting on their last guest, Mai Lee of the Kyoshi warriors.

Mako began to drink his tea as the two waited for the leader of the Kyoshi to arrive. Korra had been pretty silent after what had happened between her and his brother, and Mako was silent simply because it was his nature. It was undoubtedly the most awkward date they had.

"Sooo," Mako said, trying to break the ice, "This is the first time I've ever been here before. I've heard good things from Bolin."

"Yeah, he and I like to hang out here all the time," she laughed nervously

Mako nodded. "I've noticed. You and Bo have been hanging out a lot lately."

Korra's eyes darted back and forth sporadically. _Does he know? How did he find out?_ "Um, yeah! Bolin's one of my best friends, so, you know, we like to hang out here occasionally." Korra quickly tried to change the subject, "So have you met the woman that runs this place? She's really friendly!"

"No, I haven't. But isn't Naruk a bit of a strange name for a woman? Then again, it is a water tribe name, so I wouldn't know much about it."

"No, no, Naruk doesn't own this restaurant anymore. He gave ownership to his daughter." _Which is strange, since Maya definitely isn't a water tribe name…_

"Well maybe we'll meet her once Mai Lee arrives." Mako looked over his shoulder and checked the clock. "But she's running a bit late. Maybe you two will have a lot in common after all, huh?"

Korra pouted jokingly, "I already said I'm sorry! I didn't expect Asami to get so worked up about it."

Mako shrugged, "I didn't either, but I guess this whole situation is really worrying her. I mean it is pretty likely that the Arbiter will end up targeting either her or her father. Now that I think about it, her father would actually be the most likely target."

"That's what I don't understand!" Korra exclaimed loudly, turning a couple heads in the restaurant. She looked sheepishly at the other annoyed costumers and whispered, "sorry…" Once the whole restaurant had gone back to eating, she continued, "As I was saying, I don't understand why he's targeting council members. If he wants to take out those responsible for the deaths during the Equalist revolution, then wouldn't it make sense to target Hiroshi Soto above all? Not that I want him to kill Asami's dad, but it would make more sense."

"Korra, we're talking about a guy who runs around wearing a skull mask claiming to be an elite soldier from a dead order. Not much about him makes sense."

_He's got me there._

"Hey, Avatar Korra, over here!" the two suddenly heard someone call

They turned their heads towards the entrance, where a girl, who was not much older than Korra, wearing a metal headdress, a heavily armored green kimono, and white face paint. The girl waved at them excitedly, and then cart wheeled over towards where Korra and Mako were sitting.

"She's the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors?" Korra whispered to Mako, staring at the cheerful girl in disbelief, "But she's so… so…."

"Happy," he finished, taking a calm sip of his tea.

Mai Lee took the empty seat and greeted them cheerfully, "Hiya! I'm Mai Lee, leader of the Kyoshi Guard! Or Warriors! Whatever you guys wanna call us!"

"Um, hi Mai Lee," Korra said awkwardly, becoming more and more nervous about the upcoming fight every second, "I'm Korra, and this is Mako."

Mako waved to her, causing Mai Lee to blush slightly. She smiled back at him innocently, and then said to Korra "Wow, avatar, you really know how to pick 'em"

_ACH! This is the woman who's going to help us protect Yi Ming?!_

Mako saw Korra's increasing distress, and decided to move the conversation forward before she had a nervous breakdown. "So, Mai Lee, how many Kyoshi guards did you bring with you?"

"Oh, there are three of us here!"

Mako almost spit out his tea. "Only three!"

Mai Lee nodded happily, completely unaware of Mako's impending aneurism, "Yep, just three! But three is all you need to take care of this clown. Don't worry, Avatar, with our help, this Arbiter guy won't stand a chance!"

"What makes you say that?" Korra asked, a bit surprised with the young woman's confidence.

"You said he's a fire bender, right?" Mai Lee asked rhetorically, "Well each Kyoshi warrior is trained in the art of chi blocking! He won't be able to use bending after we hit a couple pressure points."

"What about the swords? From what we've gathered, he's an expert fighter, even without his bending. Hell, for most of the time he's been at large, we didn't even know he could bend," Mako brought up, still a bit worried about the outcome of their next fight.

Mai Lee's smile didn't even falter, though, "Duh, he may be a good fighter, but so are we! And there are three of us, and one of him. Plus, we have the avatar on our side, so I'd say Mr. Arbiter practically has his ticket punched already!" The Kyoshi warrior leaned back in her chair confidently, "Don't worry, I'm sure that we'll have his arms as weak and ineffective as wet noodles before the fight even begins, speaking of noodles…"

The leader of the Kyoshi guards grinned eagerly as Maya approached their table, holding a platter with three bowls of seaweed noodles. She set down the platter and distributed lunch to each of them, and then tucked it away under her arm. "Mai Lee, it's good to see you again," she greeted

Korra didn't think Mai Lee's smile could get any wider, but she was quickly proven wrong the instant she heard Maya's voice. "MAYA!" Mai Lee jumped up from her seat and threw her arms around the poor woman, squeezing the air out of her "Oh, it's so good to see you too!"

"You two know each other?" Korra asked

Mai Lee nodded, finally releasing Maya. "Yep! Believe it or not, Maya used to live on Kyoshi with us! She was even part of the guard for a little while!"

Korra looked to Maya, who confirmed Mai Lee's story with a nod. "It's true. I'm actually quite the fighter!"

"But then you left us and went off to Republic City without warning," Mai Lee said, frowning playfully at Maya, "Why did you do that anyways? You scared us all half to death!"

"I'm sorry, but I found an new calling here."

"A noodle restaurant?"

Korra could have sworn Maya avoided their glance for a split second. "Yeah…" she responded weakly, "the noodle restaurant."

Mai Lee seemed content with her answer and gave Maya another quick hug. "Well, whatever makes you happy!"

"Ehem," Mako said, "It was nice meeting you and all, Maya, but we really need to be getting on with this meeting."

"Oh, that's right!" Mai Lee exclaimed, "Sorry Maya, we'll have to catch up later!"

"It's fine," Maya laughed, "I have to go pick something up for a friend in a bit anyways." The blonde woman gave a small, polite bow to Korra, and then walked back into the kitchen to take other orders.

Once Maya was out of sight, Korra asked Mai Lee, "Alright, so what's the plan?"

Much to Mako and Korra's distress, Mai Lee simply shrugged in response as she slurped up her drunk with a straw. She finished the peach juice with a satisfied sigh, and then said, "I assumed we would just stand around the old man and wait. When the Arbiter shows his face, we'll try and cripple him, and then you go all eye glowy avatar state on him."

Mako and Korra both suddenly found the floor very interesting, as their gazes dropped guiltily. Mai Lee looked at them in confusion. "What's wrong? Did I say something offensive?" she asked nervously

"No," Korra responded, "It's just that… it's just I…"

"Korra hasn't mastered the avatar state," Mako told her bluntly

"What?! But, but you're the avatar! That's what you do!" Mai Lee shouted, once again disturbing the restaurant's peace.

"Keep it down," Korra hissed, waving apologetically at all the perturbed costumers, "I know it's bad, but I thought that with you guys on our side, I wouldn't really need it."

"What are you talking about? Of course it's important!" Mai Lee snapped, suddenly a bit more on edge, "How are we supposed to take away his bending?"

The three thought for a bit, and then Mako suggested, "Well there is always blood bending."

Both Mai Lee and Korra stared at Mako in disbelief. "You're joking, right?" Mako looked completely serious, though. "No, I'm not blood bending," Korra told him, "If I blood bend, then I'm no better then Amon. I won't stoop to that level."

"The guy's been practically asking you to stop him," Mako countered, "Didn't you hear that announcement? He thinks you don't have what it takes to protect the nation, well I say we show him that you do."

"I'm not blood bending, and that's final."

Mako threw his hands up in fake submission and growled, "Well then you're going to have master the avatar state, because I don't see any other way around this. I don't see any other way to stop this man from hurting you." The short-tempered fire bender then stood up from his seat and stormed out of the restaurant.

"Mako, come back here!" Korra called, but he was already too far away. She sighed in frustration and turned to Mai Lee. "I'm sorry, Mako's a little on edge right now."

"No, it's alright, he has the right to be after all that's happened." Mai Lee stood from her seat and put down a couple of yuans for her meal. "You better make a decision quickly, though, Korra, because we're running out of time and councilmen." She then left out the same door Mako had, leaving Korra alone at the table.

* * *

Pain. Absolute pain. Searing awful terrible pain. Horrible, unbearable, mind numbing agony.

The Arbiter clenched his jaw as he pulled up his mask and fell to his hands and knees on the floor of his makeshift headquarters. With a violent cough, he threw up blood on the ground. The Arbiter stared at the mess under him, blood still dripping from his mouth. His past was catching up to him, and fast.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid," he scolded himself as he wiped the blood from his lips, "You got cocky, overconfident." He let out a deep cough and more blood splattered on the floor. "Should have done it yourself."

"Come on," he muttered as he tried to stand, his knees wobbling as he rose to his feet. "Don't give out on me yet." It felt as if his whole body was on fire, like the flesh was being slowly roasted off him. The Arbiter stumbled into the wall and had another violent coughing fit, spitting blood all over the sides of the dim room.

"Where is she," he asked himself, "she should have been here a while ago!"

Images began to flash before his eyes, the same visions he saw every time he tried to sleep: a small village, a raging fire, a mighty crash of thunder, and a skull with blood red eyes. The Arbiter's head began to throb, his vision slowly growing more and more hazy.

The Arbiter lost his footing again and fell into the table, knocking it over and sending all the papers he had laid out into the air. He choked up more blood as he began struggling to stand up, seeing black spots as he did. His head was burning and his bones felt as if they were deteriorating, splintering off into nothingness.

He clenched his fists angrily and slammed them on the stone floor. Blood continued to run from his lips, as well as from his nose. "No," the Arbiter snarled with determination through gritted teeth. He gathered all his strength and attempted to stand, over and over again, "I have NOT come this far… to die… now…"

Suddenly, he heard the click of the door unlocking, and a feeling of relief washed over him. Maya opened the door and walked in, holding a bag full of food and other necessities in one arm. She turned to lock the door behind her, not noticing her friend's condition.

"So I got you some more chocolate," she told him as she finished locking the door, "and some other things too."

"Maya…" the Arbiter rasped, quickly pulling his mask back down over his face, trying even harder now to stand up so that she wouldn't have to see him in such a state.

"What's wrong, you sound terr- AHH!" Maya dropped the bag and rushed over to the Arbiter as soon as she spotted him. "Spirits, what happened here?"

The Arbiter pointed weakly towards the brown bag and wheezed, "The…pills…"

Maya immediately recognized what he was talking about and rushed over to the bag, searching for the strange bottle he had requested earlier. "I'm so sorry," she told him as she frantically tore through the bag, almost on the verge of crying, "If I had known you needed them so badly, I would have-" she stopped when she found the small bottle of medicine. The Arbiter watched as Maya quickly uncapped it and dumped two pills onto her hand. She quickly rushed over to the Arbiter's side, swearing under her breath as she did. With a trembling hand, Maya cupped his face, gently lifting it up his mask so only his scarred mouth was revealed.

"Here you go," she said tenderly, feeding him both pills. The Arbiter swallowed down both pills dry, then shuddered with relief.

After about ten minutes, he was able to stand again and was no longer coughing up blood. The Arbiter seemed completely fine, unlike Maya, who was completely and utterly terrified. "What the hell was that?!" she yelled at him, "Why didn't you tell me you've been throwing up blood!"

"Just an occupational hazard," the Arbiter answered as he struggled to het to his feet.

Maya slapped him across the face as soon as he could stand and snapped, "Don't you dare joke with me! You would have died if I hadn't come soon!"

The Arbiter simply straightened his mask calmly, acting as if nothing had happened. "But you did, and that's all that matters."

"Arbiter" Maya pleaded in a concerned tone of voice, "What is happening with you? Why were you coughing up blood?"

The Arbiter sighed. He figured that she would find out sooner or later, so this talk should have been expected. Eventually, he would have told her, when the time was right. He just wished that he didn't have to explain it to her now. "I have a bit of a condition, as you might call it. Remember when I first met you, I said that I had returned from the grave to finish my mission." Maya nodded, and the Arbiter continued, "Well it didn't take me long to realize that resurrection has certain side effects, side effects that, if ignored, will end up making your second life rather short. The medicine you got me helps keep those nasty side effects at bay."

"Have you been keeping yourself alive with these?"

The Arbiter nodded. Maya began to tear up as the realization of the Arbiter's inevitably short lifespan hit her. "Come on kitten," he put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "You didn't think I'd be here forever, did you? Unless I can find some sort of miracle cure, I won't be able to fight it off for more then a year."

"You're... going to-"

The Arbiter cut her off, "Don't worry your pretty head about me. I'll be fine for now, and after this is all over we can look for something to ease my condition."

Maya snarled angrily, suddenly filled with a feeling of betrayal and rage, "You think I can just walk off what I saw! I just saw you cough up blood, Arbiter! How can I not be worried?"

"Kitten-"

"No, don't you dare kitten me!" Maya threw the plastic bottle of pills at him. "Why wouldn't you tell me this? You think you can just keep something like that a secret? I know you like to be all mysterious, but you almost died because of me!"

"Maya, you aren't the one who did this to me," the Arbiter told her, cupping Maya's cheek reassuringly, "This happened to me a long time ago. If I had died, it would have been no one's fault but my own."

"Please, tell me what happened," Maya took his hand into hers and looked the Arbiter straight in his demonic eyes. She couldn't read his expression. As usual, his black and red eyes stayed cold and focused, devoid of anything human. They betrayed nothing about him, no past, no thoughts, no feelings, nothing. Just a second ago, he was barely able to stand; coughing and throwing up blood everywhere. But now he was acting as if nothing had ever happened.

The Arbiter looked away guiltily after spotting the distress in Maya's expression. "Maybe some other time," he told her, trying to get his lovely assistant to drop the subject, "But for now, do you have the other supplies I asked for?"

Maya sighed in disappointment and went back over to the bag she dropped. "Yeah, I got everything you asked for." She stooped over and picked up all the things she had flung to the side while looking for the Arbiter's pills, while he went back to where his table once stood and sat in his chair, waiting for the pills to take their full effect. As he watched her clean up the mess she had made while searching for his pills, The Arbiter felt a twang of guilt. He knew he couldn't just leave Maya with nothing, especially after all she had done for him.

At that moment, he made decision to tell her something that he swore he wouldn't tell anyone. "Ronin."

"What?"

"Ronin," he coughed out again, "That is, or was, my name. Ronin."

Maya smiled. His name, at least it was something.

* * *

Tenzin, Korra, Mai Lee, councilman Yi Ming, and councilman Nanuq all sat around the round table in the private meeting room of the City Hall. Being head of the council, Tenzin believed it was his duty to call together what remained of the council to discuss the Arbiter issue in greater detail.

Korra didn't quite understand why she had to sit through another meeting, since she had already met with Mai Lee at Naruk's Noodlery that very morning. But she understood the council's concern, since they were the ones being targeted. Korra also understood that some sort of plan had to be put into motion. The Arbiter would be coming for Yi Ming's head tonight, and they all had to be ready.

The earth kingdom councilman seemed more relaxed then she had expected. He was propping his feet up on the table and munching idly and without a care in the world. The loud munching seemed to be annoying the other council members, but Korra found it somewhat soothing to know someone was confident that they could stop the Arbiter. But the other two council members were already annoyed by Mai Lee's tardiness, and Yi Ming's inability to take anything seriously only further perturbed them.

After five straight minutes of loud munching, Nanuq finally snapped. "Will you PLEASE stop eating rock candy and focus?! This is YOUR neck on the line, you stupid bafoon!" He shouted, slamming his fists on the table.

Yi Ming stopped crunching for a second, staring incredulously at him, and then went right back to loudly eating. Nanuq growled angrily, his fists tighteneing and his knuckles white. Tenzin merely groaned and shook his head at the relaxed councilman. "While I don't agree with Councilman Nanuq's tone, I do believe you should be taking this a little more seriously, Yi Ming," he told the earth kingdom councilor in an annoyed tone of voice.

Korra was actually surprised when she saw Yi Ming swollow the rock candy in his mouth, and place the rest down on the table. He then cleared his throat and said, "I have complete faith in my earth bending abilities. I'm not as helpless as poor Ulva," He laughed crazily, "Plus, I have the avatar and the kyoshi warriors on my side! If that isn't garunteed protection, I don't know what is!"

Korra thought it was nice to see someone had faith in her, but councilor Nanuq obviously didn't agree. "If you think that you are safe just because the child is watching you, you're an even bigger fool then I thought!" he shouted, "The avatar watched over Ulva and look what happened!"

_Well, it's nice to see you hold me in such high regard_, Korra thought, somewhat slumping back into her seet. Tenzin noticed Korra's distress and decided to step in. Tenzin noticed Korra's distress and decided to step in. "Nanuq, what do you believe we should do, then? If you have an idea as to how we can stop the Arbiter, please don't hesitate to speak up."

"In fact, I do have an idea," Nanuq stood from his seat and slammed his hands against the table again, dramatically. "Allow me to take charge of finding the Arbiter. We will get nowhere staying on the defense! I will mobilize the police force and we will actively hunt this scum down."

Even though Korra didn't like councilman Nanuq, he brought up a good point. The best defense was a good offense. If they keep the Arbiter on the run, he may not be able to target any more people. As Korra looked around the room, she saw that the other two council members seemed to be in agreement with Nanuq.

All of a sudden, the door burst open and in cartwheeled Mai Lee, along with two other girls walking behind her. Following the Kyoshi guards was Chief Beifong, who wore a sling around her left arm and had her forhead wrapped. Mai Lee quickly jumped into her seat and apologized fervishly, "I am so sorry that I'm late! You haven't finished the meeting already, have you? Is it over! Did the Arbiter already come?!"

"Mai Lee!" Tenzin barked, shutting the bubbly warrior up. He took a deep breath and then assured her that she was not late, and that their meeting had just begun. Mai Lee sighed with relief when she heard this, even though she had two aggravated councilmembers glaring at her. Tenzin then turned to Lin and asked, "Chief Beifong? I didn't know they had let you out of the hospital so early."

"They didn't," Lin snarled, obviously still infuriated with what happened at Ulva's manor, "But I wasn't going to sit by while the man who killed fifteen of my officers run free any longer."

"Well you are just in time, Chief," Nanuq told her, motioning to an empty seat next to him, "We were just discussing how we should take the fight to the Arbiter, organize a man hunt to track him down and bring him to justice."

Lin Beifong rubbed her temples thoughtfully with her only good hand, considering Nanuq's suggestion. She then told them, "That would be impossible, councilman Nanuq. To hunt down one man in all of Republic City would take time that we don't have, and resources we can't afford. I can't pull that many police off their posts to search for the Arbiter."

"But we were able to track down Amon, and he was just one man," Korra said hopefully. "Hell, even Mako, Bolin, and I found him on our own."

"Amon had a huge group of followers, which made him fairly easy to track," Lin said to Korra, "He wasn't exactly a subtle man, with all his equalist rallies and public appearances. But the Arbiter is just one man, and as far as we know, he's working alone. He doesn't have any known associates we can interrogate, nor do we have any idea where his hideout could be."

Lin was right, and everyone knew it. Tracking down one man in such a large city would be like trying to find a specific grain of sand on Ember Island. It simply couldn't be done. If the man had no one that they could link to him, then they had no hope of finding him.

"Right now, it makes no difference. We are meeting here for one reason, and that is the protection of councilman Yi Ming," Tenzin announced, shifting the meeting's focus back on track.

Lin nodded in agreement, "Exactly, and for that, the Kyoshi guards and I have come up with the perfect plan."

Korra leaned foreward in her seat, eagerly waiting to hear Lin's plan. "We will send out several vehicles, each of them identical to the other. In one of them, we will place Yi Ming. The others will be empty, but still guarded by a number of policemen. One of the decoys will be watched over by avatar Korra, another will be watched by the Kyoshi warriors. The vehicle containing Yi Ming will be guarded by a group of the force's finest, along with the two brothers that Korra is friends with." Lin explained, showing the different drawn routes on a Republic City map.

"This is a good plan, Lin. I commend you for it," Tenzin commented. Yi Ming gave the police chief a bashful thumbs up, while Nanuq stayed silent and reserved. Korra was excited about the plan, herself. It was perfect! The Arbiter would never know which sotomobile holds Yi Ming. It could push things in their favor. But then, she remembered what she had heard from Asami last night.

_"With those eyes, he is able to see the spirit of every living being, making him a formidable hunter."_

Korra's eyes widened with the realization. _The plan won't work! The Arbiter would be able to see if the car had Yi Ming in it with a single glance._ She quickly stood to her feet and blurted out, "We can't!"

Everyone stared at her as if she had gone insane, causing Korra to shrink a little bit back into her seat. "I mean, we can't," she repeated, this time in a quieter voice, "The Arbiter will know exactly where Yi Ming is. It would take him no time at all to find the councilman."

"How?" Tenzin asked, "Lin's plan seems quite flawless. But if you really object to her idea, please explain."

Korra nodded and began to make clear the flaw in Lin Beifong's idea. "I'm sure you all know that the Arbiter has a strange eye coloration, right?"

The entire room nodded, it would be impossible for them to forget those black and red eyes, even if they had only seen the picture. Korra continued, "Well I did some research last night and found something that may present a problem. His eyes, they allow him to see the soul of every living person."

For a couple seconds, the whole room was silent. Everyone was now completely sure Korra had gone insane. The young avatar kept her composure, though, to show that she was being dead serious, and that her claim wasn't so outlandish.

Finally, chief Beifong broke the silence. "See people's souls?" she said back to Korra, each word dripping with skepticism.

"Yes," Korra confirmed, "Believe me, I was just as shocked. But upon further thought, I realized that it made perfect sense. Think about it, how else would he be able to aim and bend lightning directly towards the police blimp without knowing where it was? It could have been a locky shot, but it's also possible that he was able to see the people in it, and aim accordingly."

The avatar felt a little depressed when she saw everyone was so shocked that she could actually present reasoning to back up her point. "Wow, that's scary," Mai Lee said in a hushed voice.

"That's fine," Lin spat, crumpling up the map with all the routes she had drawn out, "But I still think we should keep him moving. Fortifying the manor obviously didn't work last time, and I think that Yi Ming will be harder to get to if he's in an armored vehicle and moving down every major street."

"So you intend to koop me up in a sotomobile when I could be helping the avatar take this bastard out!" Yi Ming shouted. Korra had seen this coming, and so had everyone else. Yi Ming was a proud earth bender, and would refuse to stay on the sidelines even if his life depended on it.

"Councilman Yi Ming, please restrain yourself," Tenzin calmly told the fired up earth bender, "While we have no doubt in your ability to defend yourself, this city needs you safe as possible. The council simply cannot risk loosing another member."

"So we sit around and cower behind our soldiers while the Arbiter takes us out! I will not hide behind Republic City's finest while they fight my battles!"

"Yi Mi-"

"NO! I am no coward Tenzin. What will you do when this man comes for you and your family? Will you just hide your face, or will you stand up and fight like a man!"

"ENOUGH!"

Everyone turned their attention to Korra, who was standing up from her seat, knuckles clenched and breathing heavily. She was fine with Yi Ming trying to protect his honor, but bringing Tenzin's wife and children into this madness was simply unaccpetable. "Stop thinking about your precious dignity for a minute and consider the people!" she shouted, pointing accusingly at the now shrinking earth councilor. "They need you to be alive and well to govern the city, and that won't happen if you're killed by the Arbiter! And believe me, if you try and stand up against him, you will be killed. Now you can attack the Arbiter head on as proud as ever and get killed, or you can get in the stupid truck and STAY PUT!"

Once again, Korra's behavior at the meeting had shocked everyone. No one had expected such a passionate and brutal outburst from the avatar. But something about the thought of Tenzin and his family being in danger had caused her to snap. Tenzin was just as much family as her own mother and father, and just the thought of someone she loved being killed by the masked psychopath was too much to bear.

"Maybe you should take a deep breath, Korra," Mai Lee suggested, placing a friendly hand on her shoulder. Korra took her advice and let out a drawn breath as she sank back into her seat.

Tenzin gave Korra a look of concern, asking her with his eyes if she was alright. She merely nodded back, even though she felt as if she was about to burst. All this time, Korra had forgotten that Tenzin could very well be the Arbiter's next target. If he killed Tenzin, she didn't know what she would do.

"Councilman," Lin addressed Yi Ming with a voice, as cold as ice, "You will stay put inside the armored vehicle. You will allow us to protect you from the Arbiter. And under no circumstances will you put your life or the lives of others at risk by trying to be a hero."

Yi Ming bowed his head submissively at the chief of police's demands. Korra sighed a bit with relief, it was nice to know that at least someone could keep the man in line. "Korra," Lin said, turning her gaze to the young avatar, "You will be riding along side the truck with your two friends. The Kyoshi guards will all be split up, each in a different car with officers of my choosing."

"Got it," Korra affirmed, giving Lin a curt nod.

"If all goes well, we'll have this bastard in shackles by tomorrow," Lin said. She then turned around and left the room without another word.

After the door slammed shut behind her, Mai Lee giggled, "Wow, her aura is REALLY strong!" Korra simply rolled her eyes at the Kyoshi master's remark. _Mai Lee is an interesting girl…_

Tenzin was the next to leave, announcing that his wife would murder him if he wasn't at home for dinner. After the airbender exited, all that was left was Korra, Mai Lee, and Nanuq, who was glaring at the avatar from across the table.

His judging eyes made Korra's sking crawl in the worst kind of way. _What is this guy's problem? He's been like this during the whole meeting! Why does he look at me with such suspicion?_ Korra thought. She decided that she wasn't going to let the councilman push her around, so she glared right back at him. The tension between the two was tangible, so thick one could cut through it with a knife. Mai Lee watched helplessly as the two stared each other down, as if they were sizing each other up for a fight. "You know, glaring like that is bad for your skin," she whimpered helplessly, trying to stop the two. But she was ignored.

"Is something troubling you councilman?" Korra sneered

"Let's just say that I'm concerned with the direction your influence is taking this city."

Then, just as he had done when he was first elected, Nanuq stood from his seat and walked out of the room, leaving Korra to ponder what he had meant. Mai Lee jumped out of her chair and cartwheeled over to Korra, who was staring at the door Nanuq had left through.

"He's not very nice…"

"No, Mai Lee, no he's not."

.

**A/N: Just so you all know, Ronin means Samurai without a master. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!**


	10. Chapter 9: The Chase

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long! I hope you all enjoy this next chapter!**

**Chapter Nine: The** **Chase**

**.**

**.**

**.**

Maya and the Arbiter stood on one of the many rooftops in Republic City, looking down at the street below. It was eleven fifteen, almost time for the death of earth kingdom councilman Yi Ming.

The night was as beautiful as they came, a rare treat for Republic City. Usually the stars were shrowded by a heavy blanket of smoke, a product of the many factories scattered across the concrete metropolis. But tonight, every single luminous orb was visable, dottinig the sky like hundreds of white lamps.

The Arbiter stared up at the moon, which was full and just as bright as the stars around it. Seeing the full moon was almost exhilarating, for him it was the promise of a challenge. The avatar's strongest element was water, and at the full moon she would be more powerful then ever. Perhaps tonight would be the night that she would finally stop him and prove that she is worthy of her title. He took a deep breath, sucking in the night air and calming himself.

Tonight, he didn't need to hold back. His bending ablities were now well known, so there was nothing left to hide. The Arbiter did regret resorting to such measures back at Ulva's manor, but he knew that a direct hit from lightning was never a pleasant thing, even if the pro bender's lightning was weak and unfocused. It was a shame; he did see some potential in the moody firebender. But to master the cold fire, one must be at peace. In the Arbiter's eyes, there were two kinds of lightning.

The first was the type used by everyday powerplant workers, such as the fire bender he had met two days ago. Their lightning was taught in schools, learned quickly, and abused for the sole purpose of powering machines, houses, and other such things. The second was the kind that took years to master and was a skill that you had to be born with. The Arbiter believed that this was true lightning, precice, intense, and deadly. False lightning was nothing compared to the raw and unadulterated power of true lightning.

The Arbiter turned his gaze to Maya, who seemed to be fixated on the people below them. Tonight, she wore a fully black suit of extremely light armor, along with a pair of fingerless leather gloves. Her blonde hair was flowing with the night breeze as she continued to stare down to the streets below. The Arbiter could instantly tell from her expression that she was nervous, afraid of what might happen. He didn't blame her, she probably expected him to drop dead any second now after his recent display.

In her hand, she was clenching a matching black mask, designed to cover everything except her beautiful blue eyes. A couple times, Maya had asked him jokingly why no one was ever freaked out by his eye color before he put on the mask. Every time he would answer with a snarky smile, "No one actually notices you until you put on the mask."

It was true. You could have black, gold, silver, or even bright pink eyes, and no one would be any the wiser. But when you put on the mask, people tend to hold on to the only feature they can see. The Arbiter had just made sure that the single feature his foes could latch on to struck fear in their hearts.

"I have to say, you have an interesting idea of a first date," Maya joked, breaking the silence between them.

The Arbiter chuckled at her remark and retorted, "I garuntee you, it'll be the most exciting night of your life. So, do you have the goody bag?"

Maya nodded and stooped over to grab a good-sized fabric sack that had been lying next to them. She opened it up and pulled out a whole assortment of destructive tools, holding them up so that the Arbiter could see them. They had collected a few explosives, a couple dozen knives, some throwing stars, and two newly developed stolen firearms. The Arbiter took a few of the explosives, while Maya took most of the knives, strapping them to a tight sash that was crossed around her torso. "You know how to use those things?" The Arbiter asked as he continued to pack his belt with the tiny bombs.

"Of course I do. On Kyoshi, they teach you all sorts of fun things." To emphasize her point, Maya drew one of the knives and threw it directly at a bird, which sitting perched on the roof across from them. The knife easily found its target, diving right into the small sparrokeet's chest. She turned back and bowed to the Arbiter, who gave her a small round of applause. "Any more questions?"

"No, mam. Just remember the plan." The Arbiter grabbed for the pistols and was about to grab them when Maya swatted his hand away. He gave her an incredulous look as she snatched up both of them and strapped them to herself. "C'mon, I stole those myself!"

Maya smiled and patted him on the cheek playfully, "Quiet, you have your bending. These are for the people who can't shoot lightning from their hands."

The Arbiter groaned dissapointedly; he really wanted to try them out. But if Maya wanted the pistols, then he figured it was only fair. After all, he was the one dragging her along on this assassination, something he was sure she would rather not get involved with.

"Ronin?"

The Arbiter cringed at the sound of his real name. He had told Maya it to comfort her, but the Arbiter still rathered she not use it. "Please, don't call me that."

"Oh," Maya said, her gaze falling a bit, "I'm sorry. But I just wanted to ask you to spare my sisters. While I may not be on Kyoshi anymore, I still care for them a great deal."

The Arbiter sighed. He knew that holding back against a Kyoshi warrior would be difficult. Anything could happen in the heat of battle, and he knew better then to make a girl a promise he knew he couldn't keep. But the Arbiter sensed genuine concern in her voice. She really did still love the Kyoshi. "Okay," he resigned, despite his better judgement, "I will not kill them. But just know, that not everything is under my control. Things happen in the heat of battle, but I will do my best to protect them from it."

"Thank you," Maya said. She gave the Arbiter a gratious bow and then told him, "I'll be waiting by cycles."

Before she could hop off, though, the Arbiter called after her. "Wait!" She turned back around to see what was the problem. The Arbiter pulled a strange blue mask from his pouch, depicting a blue Oni face, with two large fangs and an unnerving smile. Maya took the mask from him and turned it in her hand.

"The Blue Spirit?"

The Arbiter nodded and gave her a pat on the back. "Chin up, kitten. It's not every day you get to be a legend."

Maya shrugged and slipped the mask on, covering up her beautiful eyes and long blonde hair. Ronin was almost sad to see such a pretty face concealed.

"We should get going, it's almost time," He told Maya as he walked with her to the edge of the roof. "We wouldn't want to break our promise, now would we?"

* * *

Right outside the main police station, Yi Ming's escort group was getting ready for the ride of their lives. Dozens of police cars and armored cars were all gathered in front of the headquarters, along with numerous on duty officers, all getting geared up for a fight. Korra had even exchanged her usual water tribe garb for a padded outfit, very similar to the one she used for pro bending. Mako had been outfitted with the same protective gear as her. Bolin had even been equipped with a green combat robe and strange stone gloves, as were the rest of the police force.

Lin had made sure this time that no one was wearing any metal, so that lightning wouldn't be as dangerous to her officers. All the earthbenders looked like agents of the long dead order, the Dai Li. Lin had even admitted to basing the design off of what ex- Dai Li agents had told her. Supposedly, the stone hands would make it easier to restrain the Arbiter if he tried to attack.

The Kyoshi warriors had all arrived on time, for once, wearing their traditional armor, except with all the metal stripped off. They even had to ditch their bladed fans in favor of something a little less conductive. This didn't seem to deter Mai Lee, though. In fact, it seemed as if she preferred fighting with out the fans.

"The fans are pretty and all," Mai Lee had told Korra when she asked her how she felt, "but I prefer to fight with my own two hands, like my mom and her mom!"

Mai Lee was an interesting personality, but from what Korra had heard from chief Beifong, it ran in the family. Korra knew she wasn't one to talk, though. She was sure that many of the people she met thought she was an interesting personality too.

"Korra, Korra!"

Korra was pulled out of her train of thought by Mai Lee, who was standing in front of her with the two other Kyoshi warriors that had come. "Korra, I want you to meet my sisters!"

The two girls didn't seem as enthusiastic as Mai Lee, but didn't seem to bear any resentment towards the avatar, which was increasingly common with each new person Korra met. "Hey, welcome to Republic City," Korra waved awkwardly

Before the two could introduce themselves, Mai Lee stepped in and announced, "The girl to my right is Zula," pointing at an older looking kyoshi warrior with golden orange eyes.

Korra was pretty shocked by the name. She knew it all too well. It was based off of the infamous fire princess, Azula, who had hunted down the Avatar for Fire Lord Ozai many years ago. Zula gave Korra a polite bow. "Avatar Korra, it's an honor," she addressed, "I believe you met my brother, Iroh, a while ago, correct?"

_Zula was general Iroh's sister? I guess, deep down, Fire Lord Zuko really did love his sister._ "Yes, I did meet Iroh. He's pretty wise for his age," she answered

Zula giggled lightly, "That's Iroh, always an old man at heart."

"Ahem!" Mai Lee cleared her throat, obviously not appreciating being ignored. Once she sufficiently had everyone's attention, she continued. "The girl on my left here is Judi!"

Judi seemed like the more quiet and reserved type. She had pale green, timid looking eyes. The shy warrior didn't say a word, but followed Zula's lead and gave a curt, almost rushed, bow. Mai Lee quickly leaned in next to Korra and whispered, "She's a little bit shy."

"I can tell."

"Hey Korra! Are you almost ready?" Korra looked over her shoulder and saw Mako and Bolin running over to her with Chief Beifong trailing slowly behind. "Are these the other warriors?" Mako asked when he reached the group, eyeing each of them with suspicion.

Mai Lee nodded, "Yep, Zula and Judi, my best friends!"

Mako extended his hand politely to Judi, excpecting a firm handshake, but intead got a couple of nervous whimpers. Zula quickly stepped in to her rescue and took Mako's hand, gripping it harder then he had expected. "So this is the man Iroh told me had won the avatar's heart."

The firebender blushed slightly at Zula's remark. "Well…"

Zula simply laughed at his flustered response and gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs, "Don't worry, you don't have to answer that. Just be ready, you're the only firebender in the group, so we're counting on you to redirect any lightning that comes our way."

"Yep! We all might die if you don't! But no pressure, though!"

_Mai Lee, you really have a way with words…_

Zula face palmed as Mako suddenly seemed to get hotter and hotter in his uniform, grabbing at his collar as sweat beagn to bead up on the back of his neck. Mai Lee didn't seem to notice though. She just smiled cheerfully and said, "Well, we should probably get to our car! Later!" The Kyoshi Leader cartwheeled away, and the other two warriors followed close behind.

"She really is an interesting girl," Lin remarked sarcastically as she watched Mai Lee go, "But to her credit, she is an incredible fighter. Hopefully it's enough to stop the Arbiter, this time."

"Chief Beifong, do you think we can pull this off?" Bolin asked. Korra was thinking the exact same thing, and was glad that Bolin had been brave enough to speak up.

The police chief's expression turned to stone as she answered, "Of course we will. I refuse to let terrorists run wild in my city, especially after killing more then a dozen officers. This bastard is going to pay for his crimes."

"That's right!" Bolin shouted excitedly, punching the air as if he were shadow boxing, "We're gonna give it to him! After tonight, he won't be a free man!"

Mako put his hand on Bolin's shoulder to settle him down. "Alright Bolin, keep a cool head." He then turned to Lin and asked, "So who's driving us? One of the officers?"

"Nope, me!" a voice answered.

The group turned and saw Asami dressed in what looked like full racing gear, with a pair of goggles, a stylish looking scarf, and a pair of leather driving gloves. She pulled the goggles off her forehead and snapped them over her eyes with a confident smile. "You all ready to go?"

"Asami, you're driving us?" Korra couldn't believe they had actually allowed a non-bending civilian to get involved in something like this.

Asami laughed, "Who else would drive the Avatar? I'd say I'm the best driver in Republic City!"

"You hit me with a mopehead," Mako grumbled under his breath, earning him a whap behind the head from the heiress.

"And I apologized for that. But I know these cars like the back of my hand. I helped design half of them, after all."

Korra couldn't a flaw in her logic. Even though she couldn't really fight, and was a civilian, Asami was an incredible racer. She would feel right at home tearing down the streets in a police car. Plus, it wasn't like any of them could drive, and she didn't quite trust a random officer with her life.

"You all just going to stand around, or are we gonna get going," Asami said, motioning for them to follow her, "The officers are ready to move out, and we want to be leaving with them or else we'll get left in the dust."

"Just how fast are we planning to go?" Bolin asked nervously, most likely thinking back to how car sick he got last time he raced with Asami.

She gave him a reassuring pat on the back and answered, "As fast as we need to, Bo."

That answer didn't exactly sit well with Korra either, but if it meant keeping counsilman Yi Ming safe, then her stomach would just have to endure. The three followed Asami to her sheek black racing car, which had been modified with reinforced plating for combat. Bolin's jaw practically dropped when he saw the beautiful piece of mechanical wonder. Korra was impressed as well, it had to be one of the nicest, most expensive cars she had ever seen. Asami grinned at their reactions and gave the car a pat on the hood. "I've made a couple modifications to it. She should run beautifully."

Mako raised his eyebrow at her. "She?"

"Oh," she blushed a bit. Apparently Asami hadn't noticed her slip up. "Sorry, I've been working on this thing for a little too long I guess. Certainly feels like it's my child."

Bolin shrugged indifferently. "Whatever makes you happy."

"Alright people, lets get moving!" they heard chief Beifong yell from her car, signaling the containment truck to start moving. Korra, Mako, and Bolin quickly jumped in the back of Asami's car, and they sped off along with most of the Republic City police force.

Lin had personally made sure that all roads were clear that night, ensuring that nothing could hinder them as they raced through the city. She had made sure that everybody knew their positions in the protective formation. The Kyoshi warriors were to drive in front of the armored truck, while Korra and the others would stay close behind it. Lin was sitting shotgun inside the armored truck and her police force were to guard both sides, left and right. There wasn't a single hole in their formation, and hopefully, they could keep it that way. Councilman Yi Ming's life depended on it.

Korra nervously watched the car's built in clock as it grew closer and closer to twelve. She could tell both Bolin and Mako were doing the same, anticipating the Arbiter to jump in out of nowhere as soon as the second hand struck that fateful hour. _Everything will be fine,_ she told herself_, we're much more organized and much more prepared then we were before._ It was true, they had even organized a strategic seating arrangement in Asami's car. Mako and Bolin were both in the back seat, so that if the Arbiter approached from behind, Mako could redirect any lightning and Bolin could create fissures in the road to throw him off. Korra sat in front with Asami, so that she could be closer to the counsilman's truck, just in case something happened.

Out of the corner of her eye, Asami noticed Korra staring at the clock in anticipation. "Stay calm, Korra," she told the avatar, "Don't let this guy get to you. Just keep a level head, and this should all turn out fine."

Korra nodded and took a deep breath, still keeping an eye on the clock. She watched as it began to count down to the final minutes of the hour came to pass.

11:55…

11:56…

11:57…

11:58…

11:59…

Korra took another deep breath. She was ready. She had to be ready.

12:00

As soon as the clock hit twelve, Korra heard Bolin shout up to the escort team, "EVERYBODY! WE'VE GOT COMPANY!"

_Here goes everything._

Korra turned around and saw the headlights of two motorbikes heading straight towards them at alarming speeds. She squinted, trying to get a better look at the riders, hoping it might be some sort of badly timed police back up. But the Arbiter's white skull mask was easily visable in the black night, and the dark atmosphere around him highlighted his blood red pupils. He had come for the counsilman, just like he had promised.

Riding next to the Arbiter, Korra spotted another person she hadn't seen before. She wasn't wearing quite as extravagant gear as he was; rather she had on a pair of black combat robes and what looked like the same mask of the legendary Blue Spirit. _Great, he decided to bring a friend today. Great._

"Officers, arrest those two!" Lin commanded from the armored truck, "Prevent those criminals from reaching the councilman!"

All the officers who were riding in the front turned towards the two rapidly approaching cycles and began to fire stone hands at them, slowing down to get closer to the incoming agressors. Even Bolin shot off one of his stone gloves at them, forming a fist with it as he did. But, just as Korra had feared, the two cycles swerved past every one of them.

"Bolin, roadblock!" Mako shouted to his brother as he began to hurl fireballs at the incoming assailents. Bolin nodded and rubbed his hands together. Then, with a large upwards push, Bolin pulled a huge slab of earth from the ground between them and the Arbiter.

"Nice job, Bo!" Korra laughed. She and Mako gave the earth bender a high five as they cheered loudly. "Lets see him get through that!"

Suddenly, the rock wall exploded into thousands of little pieces as a bolt of lightning shot through it and traveled closely overhead. Korra could feel the heat singe the tip of her hair as the white energy passed by, letting loose a huge BOOM as it did. _Does the universe ever get tired of proving me wrong?_

Korra turned back around and saw the two cycles coming at them even faster now. The Arbiter was leading the charge, holding his hand up as lighting began to form around it, leaving a small trail in the air as the bike sped forward. He pointed two fingers forward, aiming right at one of the police cars and let loose another bolt. Lighting struck the back of a car to their right, causing it to erupt into flames and spin out of control, flipping into a fruit stand nearby.

"Shit!" Mako cried out as another streak of lightning passed right over them. The cars continued to slow and change their formation, now forming a line between the two killers and their target. They then began unleashing a barrage of flying rocks towards the Arbiter and the Blue Spirit.

As the two bikers began to dodge around the flying stones, Korra pulled water from the skin hanging from her shoulder and used it to freeze the road behind them. Once she had created a sufficiently large ice patch, she smiled at her work and taunted, "Let's see you get past that!"

Just as she had hoped, as soon as the cycles hit the ice flat, they skidded out of control. As the Arbiter and the Blue Spirit spun hopelessly out of control, the metal bending police ceased fire and watched as the first bike flipped. Blue was tossed up into the air, and was about to become a nasty skidmark when the Arbiter swerved his cycle towards her and grabbed her by the wrist. He then jumped from his back whilst slinging the Blue Spirit onto his back, and used lightning from his hands to propel himself forward.

The two were launched into an unlucky police car to the left of the group. Quickly and mercilessly, the Arbiter killed the driver and two passangers, tossing their bodys off to the side once he was finished. Korra was always shocked by how easily the masked man was able to slay other human beings. He did it as if he was born for murder, cutting through bone and sinew without so much as a second glance.

The Blue Spirit hopped into the driver's seat and began to bump into the cars next to her, attempting to throw off the line.

"They're trying to break up our formation!" Asami yelled to both Korra and Mako, "Get over there and deal with it!"

Korra nodded and looked to Mako, who gave her the thumbs up. _Well, here goes nothing!_ The two benders began jumping from car to car, making their way towards the two assassins. Mako launched two fireballs at the Arbiter, who punched through them easily. He began to return fire with several bolts of lightning, barely singing the tips of Korra's hair.

"I won't let you kill another!" Korra yelled as she lashed out at him with water bending. She managed to graze the Arbiter across the face with one whip, cutting a clean slice through the fringe of his hood. Mako followed up with a wave of fire and managed a solid hit. The flames pushed the Arbiter backwards, almost knocking him out of the car.

The Arbiter snarled angrily and was about to release another bolt when a small knife flew towards him, embedding itself in his shoulder. With a pain filled cry, he tore the dagger from his flesh and threw it aside.

"Now, get him girls!" Korra suddenly heard Mai Lee shout. The three kyoshi warriors jumped gracefully over both she and Mako, landing between them and the Arbiter.

Mai Lee held her fists up, along with Zula and Judi, and demanded the Arbiter surrender, scrunching her nose angrily as she did. The Arbiter merely took one look at them and laughed. "Aren't you three adorable?" he taunted as he drew his katana from its sheath. By now, other officers had already joined Mai Lee and her warriors, standing ready. Other cars had also broken formation to create a mobile perimeter around the Blue Spirit and the Arbiter. Korra smiled to herself. _ We got you, you son of a bitch._

Lin Beifong herself joined in, signaling to the truck to keep steady. She hopped in one of the police cars next to her, and had the officer slow down so that she could address the masked man. "Arbiter," she snarled as she held her rock gloves threateningly, "You are under arrest for the murder of two council members, along with countless others."

Korra watched the Arbiter intensely, trying to anticipate his next move. Would he stop the car and actually surrender? She doubted it, none of the crazies ever did.

The Arbiter didn't move at first. He stood, frozen, with his katana extended as if he was about to strike. For a few moments, the only sound Korra could hear was the wind whipping through her hair and the motors of the cars as they tore through the streets. Then, he began to speak.

"It looks like you all got me," he spoke calmly, his eyes not betraying any sort of fear, "Blue, keep the car on track. I know that neither of us wants to die in a terrible crash." The Arbiter turned and glared at Korra, who glared straight back at him, unwilling to give the psychopath any sort of sick satisfaction. "I've been keeping track of you, you know. "

"Great, now we can add stalking to your long list of crimes," Korra spit

The Arbiter chuckled at her response and continued. "At first I was watching to see if I could find any sort of weakness, you know, like a bad knee or a weak arm. But it didn't take me long realized that your problems were nothing physical. No, you might as well be the poster girl for fitness."

"Where is he going with this…" Korra heard Lin mutter to herself.

"You act very confident don't you, Korra. You like to believe that you're a strong, independent woman, not like all those other tarts that roam the streets of this city," he taunted as he slowly put away his katana and then raised his hands up submissively. Korra's eyes narrowed. _Where is he going with this?_

"Somebody cuff him so we can stop the cars," one of the officers commanded. But no one moved from his or her spot. They were too scared that they'd end up like the many others who had tried subduing him. So the Arbiter kept talking.

"You ought to be careful with what you do in public, Korra. Especially with such a short tempered boyfriend."

Korra felt her whole body freeze over, her breath halt, and her pupils shrink. He knew. He had seen her kiss Bolin behind Mako's back. The Arbiter had seen the whole turned around and saw Bolin was just as horrified, his eyes wide with shock. _ No, no, no, no…_

"What are you talking about!" Mako demanded, shooting a fiery warning shot at the masked man.

_No, no, no…_

Korra knew that the Arbiter was smiling widely under that mask, even if she couldn't see it. Every word dripping with sweet poison, the Arbiter addressed her boyfriend. "Oh, you don't know?" he said, "I was sure Korra would have told you, since you have such a close relationship and all."

"Tell me what you mean!" Mako screamed again, his fists clenched and his brow furrowed._ Oh, Yue, don't! Please!_

The Arbiter laughed mockingly, only further angering the firebender. "You should really keep leash on your brother Mako! He's a pretty sly dog. But then again, that may just run in the family."

"Don't listen to him," Lin warned Mako. But it was no use; Mako was focused on only one thing, the Arbiter.

"Tell me!"

"To think that they would do such a thing behind your back. Such scandal!"

"Tell me!"

"I guess that the young and voluptuous avatar found out pretty quickly that pretty boys don't have much of a personality."

"TELL ME!"

"You only have yourself to blame. If you weren't off brooding so much, your woman may not have been stolen by your own brother."

By the time Korra realized what was going on, it was too late. The Arbiter had been pushing Mako's buttons on purpose, knowing that he would most likely get a reaction out of him. Before she could stop him, Mako yelled out in anger, swiping his fingers through the air as static began to crackle around him.

"Mako, NO!"

The angry firebender couldn't be stopped. He extended one hand outward and a vicious arc of lightning shot from his fingertips.

"Bingo."

The Arbiter thrust one hand forward, meeting the lightning head on. The blue energy shot into his arm, through his stomach, and out his other hand, straight towards one of the cars. The lightning hit its engine, causing the entire thing to erupt in flames, taking two other cars with it. Trashed vehicles began to swerve into other cars, piling up into what was quickly becoming one of the largest crashes in Republic City.

"Everybody, bail out!" Asami shouted as the debris tumbled towards them. She quickly jumped out of the car and onto the side of the road, landing safetly next to a couple of spectators. Korra quickly pushed two officers out before they hit the wrecked car in front of them, and then jumped out of the way.

In the midst of the chaos, the Arbiter fired a shot at the armored truck and blew out its engine, causing the entire thing to capsize in a flaming wreck. "Time to get out!" Korra heard him yell to the Blue Spirit as more and more cars rammed into each other. The two jumped from the car just as it slammed into another, resulting in a fiery explosion that sent little scraps of mettle flying through the air.

Korra looked out on the scene before her in horror. The smoke billowing from all the sotomobiles made it difficult to see everything in the wreckage, but she could see enough. Every car was both crumpled and destroyed, or in thousands of little pieces. Officers lay around her, groaning in pain and unable to stand. The buildings lining the street were either cracked or had crumbled where cars had hit them. It was all a flaming wreck.

"Korra, are you alright?!" she heard someone call from the wreckage. The avatar looked around for the source of the voice as it continued to call out to her, growing increasingly desperate with each cry. "Korra!"

She spotted the overturned car where the voice was coming from. Korra sprinted over and used metal bending to tear the door open. Inside was Bolin, who was burned all over and covered in soot. His arm looked broken, it bent in an unnatural and painful manner. Korra sighed with relief to see he was alive, though, and pulled him out of the car.

"Oh thank the spirits you're alright," he wheezed as she dragged him to the sidewalk, where he could rest.

"Where are the others?"

Bolin nodded towards the crowd of people gathering around the wreckage. "Some were able to jump out on time. I think I saw Mako and Asami bail out, along with Zula and Judi. I didn't see Lin or Mai Lee, though."

"I'm alright!"

Korra turned and let out yet another sigh of relief as she saw the chief of police limping towards them. Her expression was hard as stone, but at least she was alive, and that was something to be thankful for. "It was stupid of me to let him talk. I should have ended his life right there and then."

"Have you seen Mai Lee?" Korra asked her, hoping and praying that the kyoshi leader had the same luck as Lin.

Lin shook her head solemnly. "I haven't seen her…"

"HEY GUYS!"

The three turned and saw Mai Lee standing on the other side of the street, waving to them. "Are you all alright?! Did you see where he went?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Just as Korra was about to answer, she noticed that the building Mai Lee was standing in front of was beginning to crumble. Before she could warn her, the structure gave way and began to topple forward. "NO!" Korra screamed as she watched thousands of bricks and rubble topple towards Mai Lee.

Right as the kyoshi leader was about to be crushed under the falling building's weight, the Arbiter burst from the smoke and shot towards Mai Lee like a rocket. He seemed to be carrying something as he propelled himself towards her, but Korra was too distracted to notice what it was. Korra watched as he tackeld Mai Lee out of the way, knocking her out of the way before she could be crushed.

"Mai Lee!" Korra called out as she and Lin ran towards her unconscious body. But the Arbiter stepped inbetween them, glaring venomously at her, almost ignoring chief Beifong. Korra gasped when she saw councilman Yi Ming's lifeless body slung over the Arbiter's shoulder.

"You… killed him…"

"Of course I did," he spat, throwing the corpse in front of them, "and this young lady would have died as well if it weren't for me!"

"She wouldn't have been in danger if it weren't for you!"

The Arbiter growled angrily and reached for his sword, but then jerked back in pain, grabbing his right shoulder as he cried out in frustration. "Damnit," he cursed as he gripped his arm tightly, "It seems as if none of us are in the position to fight."

"I feel just fine!" Korra stomped the ground and a three pointed rocks shot up from the ground and hovered above the Arbiter.

She saw him wince for a split second behind his mask, but quickly regain his compusre. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he told her, staring into her eyes unyieldingly.

"Do as he says," Korra heard someone demand from behind her. Both she and Lin turned around to see the Blue Spirit standing behind Bolin, holding a thin dagger up to his throat. Korra quickly threw aside the boulders and backed away as the Arbiter walked over to the new Blue Spirit, giving her a slight nod.

"Sorry," Bolin apologized as he eyed the dagger nervously, "She was really sneaky!"

"You don't ever shut up, do you?" the Arbiter commented in an annoyed tone.

Bolin stuck his tongue out at the masked man, earning him a punch to the gut. "Let us leave, or else we spill his blood all over the pavement," the Arbiter ordered Korra. Obediently, the avatar and the chief of police stepped down, allowing both the Arbiter and the Blue Spirit to back away. Right as they were far enough away to ensure no one would follow, the Blue Spirit pushed Bolin forward and ran, along with Korra's spirits.

_I can't believe it. Yi Ming is... gone._

She had failed again. Just like that, the Arbiter had killed his third councilman, and she had done nothing to stop it. Korra felt the weight of her loss crush her soul. She fell to her feet, tears rolling down her cheeks, and began to sob.


	11. Chapter 10: Aftermath

**A/N: Chapter ten now up! I hope you all enjoy, and remember to leave a review. I saw the beginning of the real S2 of Legend of Korra, and it looks good! So just to clear things up, this story is a bit AU, and happens sometime between spirits and air. Oh, and in response to krikanalo, you're right, no one in the avatar world has blonde hair. but I thought it would be a unique feature b/c of that.**

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**Chapter Ten: Aftermath**

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Korra took a deep breath as she rode Naga up to the brothers' apartment. It had been four days since councilman Yi Ming's murder, and the Arbiter had made no announcment pertaining to whom his next target may be. She welcomed the temporary peace, hoping that the Arbiter's shoulder injury was enough to silence him for a long time. But the Arbiter wasn't what Korra was worried about, at the moment. It was Mako.

Ever since the Arbiter had revealed she and Bolin's secret, Mako seemed to have dropped off the map. He hadn't visited her at the airtemple, hadn't gone to work at the power plant, and hadn't been answering a single one of her calls. It was as if he had cut her off completely. Up until now, she had felt to nervous and too guilty to visit him at home, but aafter four days of silence, she couldn't wait any longer.

Nervously, she hopped off her giant polarbear dog and walked up to Bolin and Mako's doorstep. "Okay, Korra, you can do this," she told herself. Korra gave the door a few hesitant knocks and then waited outside with baited breath.

_Maybe Mako's been resting this whole time. Maybe he just hasn't left his house and was too tired to take calls!_

Her optimistic and confident thoughts quickly fled as the knob turned and the door cracked open. Korra looked through the small crack and saw a single green eye staring back at her.

"Who goes there?" a suspicious voice asked Korra

The avatar glared and rolled her eyes. Bolin was not who she wanted to see right now. "Bolin, you know it's me. Is Mako home?"

"Go away you… you… sabertooth moose lion!" Bolin shouted back at her. She heard a purr through the door, and then Bolin added, "Pabu doesn't want to see you either!" The door slammed shut and the avatar heard the lock click into place.

Korra face-palmed in frustration. "Bolin, if you don't open this door, I'm breaking it down!" she threatened angrily. But the door stayed shut. "BOLIN!" she tried again, stomping angrily to emphasize her point. Yet again, there was no response.

_That's it. I warned him._

Korra stepped backwards, away from the door, and sent a huge gust of wind through it, knocking the door right off its hinges and across the brothers' room. Bolin's head peeked in from the side of the hole that was once his door, and glared once he saw Korra. "Pabu told you to go away."

Korra stormed in uninvited and stomped right up to Bolin. She jabbed him in the chest with her finger, accusingly, and demanded, "Where's Mako?! I need to talk to him!"

"Of course you do," Korra heard him mutter under his breath, in a voice that almost sounded hurt. "He's been gone for the past three days," Bolin told Korra as he stooped down to clean up the mess she had made, "Came in here after getting fixed up, grabbed his bag, and then left. Never said a word to me."

_So Bolin doesn't know where he is either? A lot of help this visit was._

"UGH!" Korra groaned. She turned to Bolin, who was still picking up pieces of broken wood, and shouted, "This is all your fault, you know!"

"My fault? What did I do?" He responded angrily, "YOU kissed me!"

_He does have me there._ Korra wouldn't let him win, though, she had too much pent up frustration to just give up. "Yeah, but you seduced me!" _Okay, weak argument._

Bolin threw his hands up in exasperation, "Fine Korra, I seduced you. Can you please leave Pabu and I alone? He was in the middle of breakfast." Korra looked over to the fire ferret, which had his tiny head buried in a little bowl of chow. The ferret looked up at her and let out a low coo, and then went back to eating.

"Yeah, you did…" Korra didn't know why being right didn't make her feel any better. She looked around at the messy room and saw that it was strangely empty. Most of the pictures Mako and Bolin had hung on the wall were gone, as well as the sheets on Bolin's bed. The kitchen was unnaturally clean and on the table was a large bag overflowing with green t-shirts and snack bags.

"What's going on?" Korra asked in a less upset tone.

Bolin turned around to see what she was referring to, and saw that she was pointing at his duffel bag. He shrugged nonchalantly and answered, "I'm moving out of Republic City for a little while."

"YOU'RE WHAT?!"

Korra was shocked. Bolin, out of all people, was moving out of Republic City? She stared at the earthbender, completely flabbergasted. _What could have possibly caused him to make such a decision? I know he's upset, but moving out? Isn't that a bit extreme?_

"Why?" she asked him, "Why would you leave your home?"

"My brother abandoned me, Korra. You're going to abandon me. The Arbiter is going to throw this city to the dogs. There's just nothing left for me here," he told her shakily. Even though she couldn't see it, Korra knew that Bolin was holding back tears. This wasn't the hopeful and optimistic Bolin that she knew. This was… someone else.

Bolin picked Pabu up and stuffed the ferret in his shirt, then grabbed the bag from off of the table. He slung it over his shoulder and turned to her. Korra felt her spirits break as she saw his hopeless expression. The Arbiter had done it. He had broken the best of them.

"I was planning on going this morning," he told Korra solemnly.

Korra crossed her arms and glared at him. "So you were just going to leave without telling me?"

"Why would I? You and I aren't on the best terms right now."

The avatar winced at his words. _He's right, I probably would have just yelled at him…_

"But I… we… You can't just run away! We have to face th-"

"Korra," he cut her off, putting one hand on her shoulder. Once he was sure she was listening, he continued, "I'm not going to act like I think what we did was a mistake. I care about you more than you can ever imagine, but you chose my brother and I respect your decision. But for so long I've been following you two around as some kind of unwilling third wheel."

"Bolin, you can't leave us! Mako and I need you if we're going to beat the Arbiter!"

"You guys are fine without me!" he yelled back, "I'm sure you two will get over this quickly and go back to making kissy face in no time!"

Korra's face turned bright red at Bolin's remark. "Is that what this is really about? Me and Mako? Is that why you're leaveing?"

"In a way." He took a deep breath and pulled out a small box from his pocket. Korra watched as he opened it and revealed a large beautiful sea pearl, something that would have cost him two years of salary. "I was going to give this to you after our first date, but never got to because of… obvious reasons. Here." Bolin handed her the box.

Korra took the box in her hands, staring at the pearl with wonder. It was one of the nicest gifts anyone had ever gotten her. She felt her anger and resentment melt away as she held the gem of the sea. "Where will you go?"

"To Ba Sing Se," he answered, "I've heard it's incredible, that anyone can start anew there. Hopefully, I can make a life for myself in the walled city."

Korra looked up to him and smiled wryly. His face was red, his mouth was twitching, and his eyes were damp. No matter how hard he tried, he could never hide his emotions. Bolin was too… Bolin.

"I hope you find what you're looking for." Korra threw her arms around Bolin and hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. Bolin began to shake as he hugged her back, his breaths growing heavier.

"Bye Korra," he sniffled goofily. Korra hugged him tighter as a tear rolled down her cheek._ That's the Bo I know._ The two friends released each other reluctantly. Bolin wiped the tears from his eyes and gave her one last nod before heading out the door. Right before he left, though, he called back, "Make sure to lock the door behind you. If Mako finds out I left it open again, he'll hunt me down for sure."

Korra giggled softly. "No problem Bo."

The earthbender waved a final goodbye and walked off with bag, ticket, and ferret in hand, leaving Korra all alone in the empty apartment. "Bye Bolin…" she whispered to herself as she slumped down on the brothers' couch. Korra felt as if part of her had just walked out with him.

"In other news, a woman was saved this morning by what she claims to be a shadow bender, more on that after the commercial break. Oh, and don't forget to stay tuned, at twelve PM, we have a special guest coming to discuss councilman Yi Ming's death!"

Korra looked over to the radio on the kitchen counter, which was playing the Republic City news. _I guess Bolin forgot to turn this off on the way out. _She stood up to switch the radio off, when she heard the phone sound. Korra froze when she heard the ring._ Could it be Mako? Shit, what do I say?_

She ran over to the phone and picked it up. Hurridly, she put it to her ear and answered, "Hello?"

"Korra!" she heard Mai Lee respond.

Korra sighed in dissapointment, "Hey Mai Lee."

"Tenzin told me that you'd be here. Hanging out with Mako's brother already? Oh this is just like a play I saw! Is Mako going mad with jealousy? Are they fighting for your honor, brother against brother? This is so exciting!" Korra clenched her fists angrily. The girl obviously hadn't heard of bounderies.

Finally, after hearing Mai Lee ramble on for too long, Korra snapped. "SHUT UP!" she shouted over the phone, "This isn't some drama! How can you be so bubbly when a terrorist is killing this city one leader at a time!"

Mai Lee was silent for a bit, but soon spoke up again. "Sorry Korra… I guess I was just trying to brighten the mood," she apologized.

Korra felt a twang a guilt tug at her gut. "It's fine Mai Lee, just tell me what you want."

"Oh, well I was wondering if you and I could meet up at the Jasmine Dragon tea shop! Since my sisters are still recovering from their injuries, I thought that maybe we could get to know each other a little better."

Korra thought some time to clear her head might be a good thing, so she accepted. She had never been to the Jasmine Dragon, but she heard it made the best tea in the entire Republic of Nations. _I could use some tea, and maybe Mai Lee's company might not be too bad. I do still need to ask why the Arbiter saved her._

"Great!" Mai Lee cheered, "I'll see you in a bit!"

Korra hung up the phone and lay back down on the couch in exauhstion. _Maybe Mai Lee will know where Mako is,_ she told herself as she closed her eyes, ready to take a quick nap before meeting with the kyoshi leader.

* * *

Korra arrived at the Jasmine Dragon a half an hour before the twelve o'clock lunch. Because most people were not yet on their break, the teashop was fairly empty, with the exception of a few elderly gentleman and Mai Lee, who was practically bouncing in her seat. Korra laughed to herself a bit, wondering if the girl ever ran out of energy.

When Mai Lee spotted the young avatar, she smiled brightly and waved excitedly. "Hey Korra, over here!" she yelled a tad too loud. The rest of the costumers turned their attention to Korra and simply glared, as if she had committed some sort of heinous crime. Annoyed costumers would not deter Mai Lee, though. "Korra, c'mon!" she shouted again. _Does she think I can't see her?_

Korra smiled and walked over to Mai Lee's table to sit down with her. "I'm glad you came," Mai Lee said as Korra took her seat.

"I can't say I've ever been here before." Korra looked around and saw that the old men and women were still glaring at her hostily, even though Mai Lee had lowered her voice. "What's their problem?" she asked.

Mai Lee leaned close and whispered back, "I think they're upset with the pile up on mainstreet. A lot of these people probably have sons and daughters on the police force."

"But I'm with the police? Why would they be upset with me?" It suddenly hit her.

_The Arbiter! He's convinced them that I'm failing my duties! Damnit, he's actually getting to people!_ Korra glared back at the angry elders. Who were they to judge her? _I'd like to see them try and be the avatar…_

"Don't worry about them. Those senile old men don't know a thing," Mai Lee assured her, hoping to cheer up her friend.

Korra smiled thankfully to the bubbly kyoshi warrior. "You're right. Thanks, Mai Lee."

The two waited patiently until a waitress approached their table holding a small booklet. "Good afternoon, what will you two be having?" she asked politely, taking out a pen and preparing to write their orders.

Korra looked through all the different teas, but couldn't manage to distinguish one from another. Tenzin was a bit of a tea aficionado, and had tried to teach Korra about the different types of leaf juice, but she never managed to get a hang of it. It wasn't that she didn't like tea; in fact it was one of her favorite beverages. But most brews tasted the same to her. She hadn't found one that had distinctly caught her interest.

"I'll have Maojian, please," Mai Lee told the waitress. The woman scribbled it down and then looked impatiently at Korra.

"Um," Korra said, still trying to think of a tea to order, "I guess I'll just have what she's having."

The waitress nodded and walked off to go give the tea maker their orders. Korra sighed with relief; she hated being put on the spot like that. "So Korra, do you think the Arbiter will leave us alone, now? He hasn't been heard from in four days now," Mai Lee asked as she played with her braid, coiling her brown hair around her index finger.

Korra shrugged, "I don't know what he's doing. Hopefully that shoulder injury put him out of commission."

"Yeah!" Mai Lee cheered, pumping her fist up in the air. "I really got him with that knife, didn't I! You know, Zula's mom taught she and I all about throwing weapons. Apparently she had learned it from her mom, Fire Lady Mai."

"Fire Lady Mai was Fire Lord Zuko's wife, right?" Korra asked, "I heard she could stare a sabretooth moose lion into submission."

"Yep, that was her! She was also my grandma's best friend."

Korra couldn't imagine how someone like Mai Lee could get along with someone like Fire Lady Mai. _I guess opposites attact. Just look at me and… me and Mako…_

Mai Lee noticed Korra's expression darken and her gaze drop to the floor. "Korra," she said in a concerned tone of voice, "I'm sure Mako's fine. He's old enough to take care of himself."

"I'm not worried about his safety," Korra explained, "But Mako can get pretty brash when he's angry. I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid…"

"He's a smart guy, cool and collected. I seriously doubt he'll do anything too dumb."

_She's right, Mako is one of the smartest guys I know. He'll come back; I know he will._

"So how about Bolin? How's he holding up?"

Korra looked away guiltily. "He's fine," she lied, hoping that Mai Lee wouldn't pick up on her sudden change of pitch, "Bo just needs some time to himself. He's Bolin, after all, his spirit's almost as uncrushable as yours."

Mai Lee nodded. "Well my spirit, along with the rest of my body, almost got crushed last night."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," Korra said, eager to change the subject, "Do you have any idea why he might have saved you?"

"I don't know, Korra. The only reason I can think of is that he felt guilty for all those officers and councilmembers he had killed," Mai Lee answered truthfully.

"I don't know…"

"Your tea," the two heard their waitress say as she bent over with the tea tray, placing it perfectly in the middle of their table. Korra nodded a thank you to the woman and took a sip from her tea. The drink was extremely sweet, almost too sweet, just like Mai Lee. But Korra didn't mind, a little sweet is what she needed at the moment.

"I'm surprised you like this flavor," Mai Lee commented as she took a sip from her own, "Zula hates the stuff. But then again, she never was one for sweetness."

"I guess it runs in the family."

The two began to drink their tea, enjoying the peaceful quiet in the teashop. Korra felt her troubles almost wash away as the hot liquid traveled down her throat and warmed her stomach. It was nice and relaxing, a perfect way to calm her nerves. For ten whole minutes, neither of them talked, focusing on their drinks and their thoughts. The silence was only broken when the bell at the front door rang.

Korra turned around and saw the only blonde she knew walk up to the counter.

"Maya? What's she doing here?" Mai Lee wondered out loud

"Maybe she just wants some tea?" Korra suggested as she took a sip from her china cup.

Mai Lee shook her head. "No, Maya hates tea. I'll call her over and ask." She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out, "Maya! Over here!"

The blonde took her cup from the tea maker and looked over to the two of them. Mai Lee smiled and waved, beckoning Maya to come and join them. Korra could have sworn that Maya looked a bit hesitant just before she made her way over to their table.

"Hey you two," she greeted, standing next to their table.

"Why are you just standing there?" Mai Lee asked. She motioned to one of the chairs and said, "Come on, Maya! Sit with us."

"Sorry, I can't. I have to deliver this tea to my friend," Maya told them. Korra wondered why she was in such a rush. "In fact, I should probably head over-"

The avatar suddenly noticed that Maya's right hand was wrapped in medical tape, and that she was doing her best to hide it away from them. Curious, Korra asked, "What happened to your hand?"

"Oh, that?" Maya laughed guiltily, eyes darting towards the exit, "I just burned myself on the stove this morning. You know, clumsy me."

Mai Lee looked at her skeptically and responded, "But Maya, your coordination was always spot on. I can't see you making a slip up like that."

Korra could see that Maya was now sweating ever so slightly. _She's hiding something, but whatever it is, it probably isn't important right now._ She decided to change the subject. "So, Maya, what type of tea do you have there?"

"Oh, this?" Maya held up the cup of tea, "This is kuding tea."

"Kuding tea! You mean bitter nail tea?" Mai Lee gasped, looking at the beverage as if it was poison. Korra had heard of the famously bitter tea as well. Not many liked the taste, including her. It was one of the only flavors she absolutely hated.

Maya nodded, "Yeah, it's for my friend."

"Your friend has strange tastes," Korra gagged, disgusted by the thought of stomaching such a harsh drink.

Maya laughed at the avatar's reaction. "He's a pretty weird guy."

Mai Lee smiled slyly and gave Maya a slight nudge with her elbow. "So… this friend is more than a friend, right?"

"Don't get your hopes up, kiddo," Maya retorted, blushing a little bit at the thought. Korra was surprised at how well she took the accusation. Most girls, including her, would have fervently denied such a relation. She remembered how flustered she had gotten when Ikki had hinted at her relationship with Mako, right in front of Asami no less! "Well, I hate to leave so soon, but I really should be getting back to him. I'll see you two later."

With a wave, she left as soon as she came, taking the bitter tea with her. As the door was about to close behind her, someone pushed by, bursting loudly into the teashop. It was Asami, who had a panic stricken look on her face. Asami frantically scanned the tea shop, and when she finally saw Korra sitting with Mai Lee, she yelled, "Korra, we have a really, REALLY big problem!"

Korra gave the heiress a quizzical look. "Asami? What's wrong?"

"You!" she shouted at the store manager, who looked pretty peeved so many people were yelling in his shop, "Turn on the radio, right now!"

"Mam, that would disturb the peaceful atmosph-"

Asami interrupted him by slamming a thousand yuans on the counter as if it were nothing. "Turn on the damn radio!" The teashop owner quickly rushed in the backroom and came back with a radio. Korra and Mai Lee walked over to Asami, who was drumming her fingers nervously as the manager set up the radio. "Stupid, stupid, stupid pride…" Korra heard her muttered to herself.

"Asami? What's wrong?" Mai Lee asked curiously.

"Mako needs to be put on a leash, that's what's wrong."

"What? What do you mean Mako needs to be put on a leash?"

"Just listen," Asami ordered them. Korra had never seen Asami so nervous, she wondered what could possibly be eating at her.

The manager finally turned the radio on just in time to hear the news show host say, "Now these are some pretty bold accusations you're making, and against a pretty dangerous man. What do you say, Mako?"

Korra froze._ No… No, he was not stupid enough to…_

Sure enough, Mako's voice responded, "The Arbiter is a coward. He hides behind a mask because he is too afraid to face justice. When cornered, he lies and cheats to save his own skin. He is a monster whose only motive is destruction, no matter how many times he says otherwise."

"Don't do anything brash, Mako, please…" Korra begged him.

"Well, you seem very much opposed to the masked terrorist," the host laughed, obviously not aware of how serious Mako's words were, "could it be because of his recent accusation, per chance?"

"I'm not here to talk about that," Mako growled, Korra could here the resentment and anger in every syllable, "I'm here to send a message."

"A message?"

_No, Mako don't say something you'll regret…_

"Yes, a message, to the Arbiter."

Asami gasped, "He can't be doing what I think he's doing…"

"What?!" Korra demanded, now afraid for her lover, "What do you mean? Asami!"

But before she could answer, Mako began his address. "Arbiter," he spat, as if the word was bitter as the Kuding tea. "You have terrorized the people of this city for too long and killed far too many. This whole time, you've been challenging Korra to stop you, to do something. Well now I'm doing something. Your venomous words have ended one of the happiest relationships I've ever had, and for that you will pay. I won't let you hurt anyone else, especially those who I care about. Today at one o'clock, in the pro-bending arena, this ends. No more hiding. No more games."

Asami looked as if she was about to have a nervous breakdown, while Mai Lee looked just as confused as Korra was. What was Mako doing? Did he seriously think he could bait the Arbiter out into public? Korra knew if there was one thing the Arbiter wasn't, it was stupid, and revealing himself just because Mako was trash talking him was… well, stupid. _What is he doing?_

After a couple second pause, Mako spoke the six words Asami had been dreading. "I challenge you to Agni Kai."

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**A/N: Well I hope you all enjoyed! Please leave a review, it really helps with the creative process!**


	12. Chapter 11: Agni Kai

**A/N: Worked hard to crank this one out! I hope you like it. Please leave a review!**

**Chapter 11: Agni Kai**

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"Get out of my way!" Korra yelled as she frantically pushed past the crowd surrounding the pro-bending arena, with Asami and Mai Lee close behind. The avatar got a couple annoyed and angry remarks from the people she shoved through, but it didn't bother her. She was getting into that arena no matter what.

At first, Korra hadn't quite understood the gravity of Mako's challenge. She knew what an Agni Kai was, but she figured that the Arbiter wouldn't show, for fear of being captured. But Asami had informed her the importance of Agni Kai to firebending culture. Even though it was illegal, the meaning behind it still stood.

If someone challenged you to Agni Kai, they were challenging your honor, something firebenders took very seriously. To opt out of an Agni Kai was to throw away one's reputation. If the Arbiter didn't show, the followers he had been amassing would see him as a coward and his movement against the council would lose steam within seconds. That meant he had no choice but to accept the duel.

For an a practice so illegal, there sure was a large turnout. Everyone wanted to see the masked man that had been terrorizing the officials of the city. Many didn't understand the real danger the Arbiter presented. Korra wouldn't have been surprised if the pro-bending association was supporting the Agni Kai, selling box seat tickets to the wealthy. It disgusted her that people were still excited to watch two fire benders kill each other over something as silly as honor.

But honor wasn't the problem this time. Mako wouldn't throw himself head first into danger for something like that. Korra knew that he probably blamed the Arbiter for she and Bolin's kiss, even if it was the one thing the psychopath had nothing to do with.

Korra knew that the Arbiter was not going to let Mako off easy, either. The monster was going to do what he did best, and that was kill. Mako was an experienced fire bender, probably one of the best the avatar had ever seen, but she knew deep down that he was no match for the Arbiter.

When the three finally arrived at the arena enterance, they saw two metal bending police standing guard. Korra marched straight up to them and demanded to be let in, not even bothering with manners. The two policemen simply looked at each other, and then asked Korra, "I'm sorry, mam, but we're under orders not to let anyone else in. It's bad enough that the bleachers are already filled."

"I am the avatar and you will let me in!" Korra shouted, looking as if she was about ready to punch holes through their chests. Asami put a hand on Korra's shoulder, quelling her temper, and said to the gaurds, "Please, we have to speak to Mako. The avatar is justifiably worried about her boyfriend, so please let us pass."

"Alright," they sighed at the same time. The two metal benders stepped aside and let Korra, Mai Lee, and Asami into the arena.

Korra gasped when she saw just how packed the arena was. It was as big of a turnout as the pro-bending championship! The stadium was filled with people sitting on the edge of their seats with baited breath, all watching the arena below. The pro-bending announcer was even present, gripping his microphone tightly as ever.

The three pushed past the many spectators and made their way towards the ring. Korra ignored the protests coming from the many people she shoved to the side. _Please don't be here, Mako_, she pleaded silently. She knew it was a hopeless wish; no crowd this large would come out for nothing.

And sure enough, stretching in the middle of the bending ring, was Mako, wearing full combat gear. "Mako!" Korra jumped over the rail and used airbending to levitate towards him.

Mako's eyes widened when he saw her flying towards him, her face contorted into a look of pure rage. "Korra?" She was astounded he looked so surprised to see her.

Korra landed and marched straight up to the fire bender, her glare not wavering. Once she was close enough, Korra slapped Mako across the face as hard as she could, making sure to make full contact. She huffed angrily as he recoiled, cradling his now tomato red cheek. "What the hell are you doing?!" he shouted, now returning Korra's angry look.

"What the hell am I doing?!" Korra felt like she needed to slap him again for good measure, "What the hell are you doing?! Are you INSANE?!"

Mako took a deep breath, collecting himself, and then answered, "No, I'm doing my duty to this city."

"Your duty to the city," Korra repeated back in disbelief. _So your duty is to throw your life away in some idiotic duel? _"Mako, I can't even count the reasons this is a terrible idea? I mean, what would your parent's think about this? What would your brother think about this?" Korra immediately regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth.

Mako's eyes narrowed, "I don't know, Korra? What _does_ my brother think?"

"Mako, you know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, I'm sure," Mako spat, "You know at first I didn't believe a word of it, but once I saw you and Bolin's reactions, I realized the truth. You and my brother have been getting together behind my back, haven't you?"

"No, Mako, we haven't been 'getting together' behind your back," Korra semi-lied. _We kissed once, but that's not getting together, right?_

"Sure," Mako sneered disbelievingly as he tightened his bending gloves again. "You know, I trusted you Korra. My own brother? Out of all people, you cheat on me with my own brother?"

"So you'll believe a masked killer, but not your own girlfriend?"

Mako gave her the scariest look she had ever seen and hissed, "we are NOT dating. Not anymore at least."

Korra felt her heart break on the spot as her now ex-boyfriend's words sunk into her. She couldn't believe it. He was breaking up with her. After all they had been through, he was breaking up with her. Korra knew that he would be upset, but she didn't think her actions would be completely unforgivable. "You don't mean that," begged quietly, hoping that Mako would take his words back.

But, just as she should have expected, Mako shook his head. "No Korra. You know, I gave up Asami for you because I thought you were different and unique. But now I see that was a mistake, and when I'm finished with this bastard I'm going to get on my hands and knees and _beg_ her to take me back."

Korra felt like he had just driven another dagger through her heart. _He thinks… that I… we… were a mistake?_ In just four days, she had lost her best friend and her boyfriend. She had never felt more depressed in her life.

"You foolish boy!"

Korra and Mako turned and saw chief Beifong walking towards them, with two metal bending police and Tenzin close behind. She looked even more furious than Korra was. "You know I could put you in jail for this? Agni Kai's have been illegal for over two decades! What makes you think I'll sit by and let this sort of anarchy happen in my city?"

"Because interfering would not only ruin the police's reputation among the common folk, but also anger the spirits. Agni Kai is a sacred ritual. Once a challenge is issued, it cannot be revoked," Mako answered coolly, not even flinching under Lin's scowl.

"He's right, unfortunately," Tenzin spoke up, "we cannot intervene at this stage. The Agni Kai has happen, whether we like it or not. This boy's life is in his own hands now."

"Thank you, Tenzin," Mako said

Tenzin shook his head at Mako disapprovingly. "Don't thank me. You've made a grave error, challenging this man. I just hope you know what you're doing."

"I've been practicing non-stop ever since Yi Ming's death, honing in on my fire bending, as well as my lightning bending. I won't let him win, not this time," Mako said confidently.

Tenzin sighed and motioned for chief Beifong to follow him. The two left the ring and took their seats with the other specators. Korra stood firmly, though, unwilling to move. She was not about to let Mako face the Arbiter on his own.

"Go back with them, Korra," Mako ordered her sternly

Korra shook her head, "I'm not leaving this ring, and nothing you say or do will make me."

"Fine!" he groaned, "Just don't intervene. This is between me and the Arbiter, no one else. Because you're water tribe, I don't expect you to understand our traditions, but fire benders take this very seriously. Attacking the Arbiter in the middle of an Agni Kai would practically sign my death warrant."

Korra gulped and nodded obediently, stepping to the sidelines of the ring. She watched as Mako continued his stretches and practiced a couple fire bending moves. _Maybe he has really improved,_ she told herself; _maybe he has what it takes to beat the Arbiter. Speaking of which…_

The bustling crowd suddenly went silent as an eerie clap filled the stadium. Korra could hear it getting louder and louder, closer and closer. She looked nervously towards the opposite enterance to the ring, where the slow clap was coming from. The clapping then abruptly stopped, and out of the darkness Korra could see the white skull mask getting closer and closer. The Arbiter's other features became more apparent as he walked through the long tunnel, where the opposing team would come into the ring through.

He spoke not a word until he stepped foot in the arena and looked around at the large throng of men and women, who were all staring at him silently. Then, he turned to Mako and chuckled, amused. "Well you've got balls, kid, I'll give you that."

The Arbiter strode closer to the middle of the ring, shifting his gaze back to the people sitting around them. "An Agni Kai," he mused, as if baffled by the idea, "I gotta say, I really wasn't expecting this. A lot of people have tried to kill me before, but not one of them has actually challenged me to a duel." Korra could just tell he was smirking under that mask. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't excited."

"It's all a game to you, isn't it," Mako growled, standing tall to face his opponent.

The Arbiter shook his head, "No, no, this is in no way a game to me. Believe it or not, I don't want to kill you. In fact, I wish I didn't have to kill many of the people I have. But they were protecting a threat to the nation, and had to be dealt with accordingly."

"Look who's talking about threats," Mako retorted

The masked killer shrugged nonchalantly, "It's all a matter of perspective."

"Enough talking!" he barked, "I didn't bring you out here for the sake of small talk. I brought you out here to finish this."

"Yes, of course you did. Well, let's begin then."

Mako shook his head. He pointed towards the Arbiter's belt and said, "get rid of your weapons. Agni Kai is firebending only."

The Arbiter laughed, "Oho, that's right! Silly me." He pointed to one of the metal benders in the crowd and shouted, "Hey! Officer friendly! Mind holding on to this!" The officer looked to Lin for approval and got a solemn nod. He then jumped down in the ring next to the Arbiter and was handed his belt, katana and all. The officer then held his hand out, waiting for the Arbiter to hand him the giant sword on his back. "You might want me to take care of this one," the Arbiter said as he grabbed the hilt of the giant sword with his left hand. He drew the huge broadsword and stabbed it into the ring, leaving it lodged in the ground and off to the side.

Once the Arbiter had disposed of his arsenal, the two benders stepped to the middle of the ring. As was tradition, they both bowed to their opponent and then took their stances.

"Agni Kai to the death. If I win, I go free. If you win… well, I guess I won't be alive to find out what happens if you win. Sound fair?" the Arbiter asked.

Mako furrowed his brow. "Fine by me."

The Arbiter made the first move. He jumped forward and extended his right arm, letting loose a savage bolt of lightning. The spear of electricity seemed to tear through the air as it shot towards Mako, who bravely stood his ground.

Mako thrust his hand directly into the lightning right as it was about to hit him, absorbing the energy and then sending it back at the Arbiter, who quickly rolled to the side to avoid electricution. The young fire bender quickly followed up with two powerful streams of fire from each hand. Korra flinched as small embers shot into the air and showered down on the crowd, causing a couple pained yelps.

The Arbiter didn't seem to be fazed by Mako's advanced bending. He simply swept his leg through the flames, knocking it aside gracefully as static began to crackle around his fingertips. Mako was barely able to dodge as two bolts were sent screeching by him, exploding on the wall opposite from the masked killer. Three more streaks of lightning flew at him, followed by a shock wave of electricity.

Korra watched as Mako ducked under the three bolts and jumped over the last wave. She could already see that he was running out of energy and breathing heavily. The Arbiter, on the other hand, looked like he hadn't even broken a sweat. _C'mon, Mako, please stay alive!_

Mako roared out in anger as he jumped into the air, using a jet of flames to propel humself upward. With a graceful flip, he kicked downwards, sending a large column of fire down onto his foe. The Arbiter quickly shielded himself from the blast, and rolled to the left. On his knees, the masked bender clapped his hands together, sending a vertical line of lightning towards Mako. The young fire bender tried to sidestep, but was too late. The cold-hearted fire hit him with a bloodcurdling CRACK on the shoulder, sending him flying backwards to the edge of the ring.

"MAKO!" Korra screamed as she saw his decrepit body lying, smoldering, on the ground. The Arbiter let out a short cackle and walked over to his seemingly defeated opponent. Sparks flew from his fingertips as he got closer and closer to Mako, who still hadn't made any attempt to stand back up. Korra watched helplessly. Would the spirits really be angered if she interevened? She couldn't let him just die!"

The Arbiter stopped when he reached Mako's body and bent down on one knee, examining the body. "You look pretty finished, kid," the Arbiter taunted as he drew one hand back, readying himself for the final strike, "Shame, you had such potential." Korra's breath nearly stopped as the Arbiter drove two fingers forward, about to shoot a single bolt straight through Mako's heart. But, at the last second, Mako whirled around and grabbed the Arbiter's hand, soaking up the electricity through contact. Before the Arbiter could react, Mako pointed his free hand forward and redirected the shot strait into the masked man's chest.

The lightning easily found its mark and flung the Arbiter across the ring like a ragdoll. Mako stood up and watched proudly as his opponent hit the floor with a loud crash. Korra found herself cheering, pumping her fist up in the air gleefully._ He got him! By the spirits, Mako actually killed the son of a bitch!_

The crowd roared loudly as Mako waved back to them, smiling wider then ever. Korra turned around and saw both Tenzin and Lin staring, mouths agape, absolutely stunned by Mako's victory.

"MAKO! MAKO! MAKO!" the spectators began chanting. Korra even joined in. "MAKO! MAKO! MAKO! MAK-"

The joyous shouts were suddenly cut short by the sound of maniacal laughter. _No… it can't be!_ Korra whirled around to where the Arbiter lay, partially enveloped in smoke, hoping and praying that he wasn't still breathing. His hand reached out from the billowing smoke and grabbed the skull mask that lay on the ground next to him, pulling it back into the black cloud as he continued laughing.

Mako's victorious smile quickly turned into a frustrated frown. He clenched his fists and turned back to his opponent, who was slowly getting back on his feet. Korra watched as the smoke began to clear, revealing the charred armor where Mako had hit him. The Arbiter's attire was no longer completely in tact. His chestplate was slightly dented and his hood had been completely burned off, revealing a full head of unkempt, snow-white hair.

Korra stared at the masked man's white mane. She honestly had been expecting him to be bald under that hood, and to see his hair made her wonder what was hidden behind that mask.

"Well, that was quite the trick," the Arbiter taunted, brushing the soot off of his shoulder, "I am impressed. If you had mastered _real_ lightning, I might not be alive right now."

"It was real enough for you," Mako retorted

The Arbiter simply shook his head, as if amused by Mako's comeback. "No, true lightning is a skill that your born with, and even then it takes years of training to hone. Your lightning is clouded with emotion, hindered and unable to reach its full potential."

Mako watched carefully as the Arbiter spread his stance and swept one hand up to the sky, blue sparks collecting around his two extended fingers as he did. Once his hand was pointed straight upwards, he shouted, "THIS IS TRUE LIGHTNING!"

The entire colosseum shook as the sky reacted with a deafening BOOM! A magnificent bolt of lightning shot down through the glass roof and struck the Arbiter's fingertips. Korra had to partially shield her eyes as energy coursed through the Arbiters body, crackling with power. The masked bender brought his hand down in one smooth motion and stomped forward, driving both hands down towards the ground. A huge pulse of electricity exploded from his fingertips and towards Mako, who could only shield himself as the blue upsurge shot towards him.

The young fire bender was flung backwards and ricocheted off the wall, back into the ring. Korra watched in horrer as the burned and beatin Mako tried to stand as the Arbiter walked towards him, most likely not intending the same mistake again.

When the masked man saw Mako lift his face, he sneered, "Don't you get tired of fighting the inevitable?" Time seemed to slow for Korra as the Arbiter stepped forward and shot a thin, precise bolt of lightning towards Mako's head. She screamed, tears pouring from her eyes, as the blue streak struck her beloved fire bender in the eye.

Mako shuddered as electricity surged through his body, directly to his brain. He had to make a split second decision, or he would surely die. With one last bit of energy, he extended two fingers forward and released a small fizzle of lightning, releasing just enough energy to stay alive. With that, he fainted and fell forward.

The Arbiter laughed in disbelief when he saw the sparks fly from Mako's fingertips. "With your face!" he shouted as he took a couple steps backwards, preparing for the finishing blow, "You redirected it with your face! It is a true shame to deprive the world of such a talented bender. But, unfortunately, the time for games is over. I've played with you for far to long."

Korra turned away as she heard lightning forming around the Arbiter's fingertips. She couldn't do it, she couldn't watch. Tears stung her eyes as she sobbed for her soon to be dead ex-boyfriend. _Mako, oh Yue, I'm so sorry!_ For one of the first times in her life, Korra felt truly helpless. "Goodbye, friend," she whispered, waiting to hear the fiery explosion of Mako's demise.

But the explosion never came. Instead, what she heard was a gagging sound, followed by a couple loud, painful sounding, coughs. She turned back around and saw the Arbiter on his hands and knees, wheezing and gasping for air. _What the hell?_

"Damnit," he hissed through forced breaths, "Damnit, not now!"

The crowd murmered in confusion as the Arbiter shakily stood up. As soon as he was up straight, he doubled over, pulling up his mask slightly and throwing up on the ground. Korra looked at the bile, slightly disgusted, and saw that it was red. The Arbiter had just thrown up blood.

"You!" the Arbiter coughed angrily, pointing to the officer holding his gear as he stumbled towards him. "Give me my belt!"

The officer replied with a tinge of satisfaction, "Sorry, but I can't give you this until the Agni Kai is over."

Korra could see the Arbiter's pupils contract, and smiled smugly. She didn't know what was happening with the Arbiter, but whatever it was, it was killing him for Mako. If the Arbiter collapsed, then Mako would win, unconscious or not! She watched as the Arbiter was thrown into another such a coughing fit, he almost fell over.

Blood began to drip from under the Arbiter's mask as he glared at the officer. "Give me my belt RIGHT NOW!"

"You know, you killed three of my friends," the officer told him heroically as the crowd began to cheer wildly, "I'd say this is karma finally catching up to you."

"No." In one swift movement, he grabbed the sword he had driven in the ground and pulled it out. Before the officer could defend himself, the Arbiter swung the blade for a fatal blow.

Korra gasped as she saw the blade swung straight through the officer without cutting him in the slightest, or even drawing a bit of blood. It was as if the sword were made of air. The avatar didn't quite know what was going on until she heard the officer shriek out in pain. In a terrifying display, his whole body began to shrivil up, his eyes growing black and his teeth falling out, as if he had aged a thousand years in a mere second. Then it struck her. _That sword, it doesn't attack the body, it attacks the soul!_

The Arbiter didn't waste anytime dropping down and grabbing a small bottle from his pocket. He fumbled with the glass container as he dropped a single pill in his hand and quickly swallowed it.

Suddenly, metal cords shot from all angles and entrapped the Arbiter in a cacoon of steel. Dozens of policemen, including chief Beifong jumped down from the bleachers and into the ring, surrounding bound the Arbiter.

"What is this!" the Arbiter demanded as he tried to struggle out of his metal bindings, "This is a direct violation of the Agni Kai code!"

Lin smiled triumphantly as she gave the Arbiter a solid kick to the gut. "Think again, scum," she glowered, "You drew a weapon while your dual was still going on, therefore automatically forefitting the match."

The Arbiter stopped struggling when he realized that Beifong was right, he had been beaten.

"Well played," he snarled, allowing the officers to heave him up and carry him out. She couldn't believe it. They got him. They actually got him. The crowd stood from their seats and roared happily as the Arbiter was dragged off. Before he could be thrown in a police car and taken back to the precinct, he looked Korra in the eyes and shouted, "At what price, avatar? At what price?"

Korra looked over to Mako's unconscious body as a team of medics surrounded him and realized what he meant. They had won, but it was a hollow victory. Mako had suffered extreme burns, possibly brain damage, and there was a high chance that he wouldn't even live through the night. And the officer, what of him? He had his soul forcibly ripped from his body, a fate that no one, not even the Arbiter himself, deserved. _At what price?_ She asked herself, the Arbiter's words ringing through her mind, _at what price…_

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**A/N: They got him! But at what price? I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and please leave a review. It really helps the creative process. Thanks!**


	13. State of affairs

I'm sorry that I haven't updated for a while, but my schoolwork has really picked up and I haven't had time to work on anything. I don't think I'll be able to get anything in until winter break, due to early college applications and such. While I wish I could keep writing, first thing's first. I have to get into college. So, for now, this story will be put on hiatus until my work load lightens up and I can continue to work on the story,

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Apologies, Swag Man


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